‘Dune: Part Two’ Keeps Rising at Box Office With $81.5 Million Opening

Warner Bros/Legendary’s “Dune: Part Two” is continuing to beat box office projections with $20 million grossed from 4,078 theaters on Sunday. Based on those results, domestic opening weekend estimates have risen from $75 million to $81.5 million

If Denis Villeneuve’s sequel once again beats projections on Sunday, it could more than double the $41 million domestic opening that the first “Dune” grossed in October 2021. That was considered a strong start at the time given the film’s day-and-date release on streaming, COVID-19 concerns keeping older moviegoers home, and the sci-fi film’s dense source material.

But Villeneuve, Legendary and Warner Bros. have turned Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel into a true blockbuster, with “Part Two” enjoying incredible critical and audience praise with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score, 5/5 from general audiences on PostTrak, and an A on CinemaScore.