Denis Villeneuve hoped another exciting project would have toppled his blockbuster sequel.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve was vocal about his frustrations that Warner Bros. opted to release his movie on HBO Max the same day it landed in theaters in 2021, knowing that this would affect the project’s performance at the box office and potentially impact the development of a sequel, but now that Dune: Part Two has become a massive financial triumph, Villeneuve has another issue with that performance. This time around, the filmmaker expressed that, with three months having passed since his film’s release, he’s disappointed that other projects haven’t reached the same financial highs as Dune and how that reflects an overall decline in the movie-going experience.
While speaking at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards over the weekend, Villeneuve shared, per Deadline, how he was “disappointed to still be number one … I hope soon that there will be other successes at the box office. I hope, sooner or later, that this summer box office will be much better.”
Films like Kung Fu Panda 4, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and The Fall Guy have landed in theaters since the release of Dune: Part Two, though none of these projects have come close to Dune‘s performance at the box office. While Part Two has taken in more than $700 million globally, sitting in second place is Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire with $567 million.
“I think we need movies that are theatrical experiences, that will fully embrace the power of the theatre, and I’m not just talking about Dune 2,” the director shared. “Of course I’m talking about many movies. A movie like Civil War, for instance, is a strong example of a movie that absolutely used the power of the theatre.”
He added, “I was lucky that Part 2 did reach the audience, I wish it would happen more often, honestly.”
Given the star power of a movie like The Fall Guy, and its early May release seemingly set to kick off the summer movie season, the Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt-starring spectacle isn’t entirely offering impressive numbers at the box office, and while Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was one of the year’s most anticipated releases, it fell to third place in only its second weekend.
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