The 3-day opening weekend projections for the Dune: Part Two box office show the movie earning a total that the original only earned after two weeks.

Dune: Part Two is turning out an epic opening weekend. The new science fiction movie is a sequel to the 2021 hit Dune, which adapted the first half of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name. It continues the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he learns more about the desert planet Arrakis, which he must help defend, and the Fremen people, especially the Sietch Tabr tribe leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and young warrior Chani (Zendaya), who has been the core subject of some of Paul’s prophetic dreams.

Per Deadline, the Dune: Part Two box office is projected to close out its domestic opening weekend with a total of $76 million. This is slightly below the movie’s original $80 million projections; however, it is nevertheless a strong result for the $190 million blockbuster. It took the previous movie, which cost $165 million, two weeks to reach that total at the domestic box office on its way to an overall worldwide total gross of $434.8 million.

Dune 2’s Enormous Box Office Success Explained

As it stands, the Dune: Part Two release is leaving the original Dune in the dust. There are several reasons that this is the case. One is the fact that the movie is tremendously well-reviewed by both critics and viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and elsewhere. Critics’ reviews, which are even more positive than those for the original movie, have likely provided a boost to initial interest in the sequels’s theatrical release, while audience reactions are already starting to build word of mouth. Below, check out how the two Dune movies’ ratings compare on various platforms:

Dune (2021)

RT Critic Score
83%
94%

RT Audience Score
90%
95%

Metacritic Score
74/100
79/100

Metacritic User Score
7.9/10
8.9/10

IMDb Score
8.0/10

Letterboxd Score
3.9/5
4.6/5

There is one other major reason that the movie is performing so well compared to its predecessor. While the Dune: Part Two cast being on strike alongside the Screen Actors Guild in 2023 led to its release date being delayed, its debut was nevertheless much less compromised than the original Dune release. That movie was released into a pandemic-depressed theatrical marketplace in a day-and-date release where it was simultaneously streaming on Max (then known as HBO Max).

It is difficult to discern how much money the original movie would have made if it wasn’t also available on streaming when it premiered. As it stands, it still became the twelfth highest-grossing movie of 2021, so its simultaneous streaming release didn’t hurt the movie’s prospects as much as it could have. Regardless, the success of Dune: Part Two is still a tremendous achievement, even if it wouldn’t be pulling quite as far ahead of Dune if the previous movie had used a different release model.