Ian Chinich has spent more than 5 years as a customer service representative with Automated Health Systems in East Providence, Rhode Island. Outside of his work on the Affordable Care Act roll-out with Automated Health Systems, Ian Chinich is a fan of science fiction novels and films, including Dune.
Dune: Part One is a 2021 film directed by Denis Villenueve based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name. The book was previously adapted by David Lynch in 1984. Due to the dense nature of the book, the movie's length, the commercial failure of Lychn's film, and of course the global COVID-19 pandemic, industry experts paid close attention to Dune’s box office performance. Box office insiders were especially interested in the film’s domestic performance, considering the film was released for free to HBO Max subscribers at the same time of its stateside opening.
Ahead of the film’s domestic release, Dune premiered in several international markets, grossing $180.6 million. The domestic release was forecasted to bring in between $30 and $35 million, good for Warner Bros. most successful release of the pandemic, but Dune ultimately finished its opening weekend in America with $40.1 million, which made it the number one film in the country.
After one weekend of release, Dune achieved a promising worldwide gross of more than $220 million. That said, the movie will need to continue to perform well if Warner Bros. hopes to recoup a $165 million budget, plus promotional expenses, and still see some profit. It is a particularly vexing situation for fans, as Villenueve’s film only covers the first half of the novel, leaving audiences with a bit of a cliffhanger. Warner Bros. has yet to commit to a continuation of the story, but studio heads seem bullish.
Should the Dune franchise truly take off, Warner Bros. and Villenueve, along with stars Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, and Rebecca Ferguson, have five additional books to source from.
