Dune: Part Two director "disappointed" it remains the year's highest-grossing movie

Dune: Part Two, director Denis Villenueve's thrilling adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel Dune, tore up the box office when it came out in March, making $711 million on a budget of $190 million. That was reason to celebrate, both because the movie was really good, and because it's great for movies like this be successful because it means Hollywood will be more inclined to make more movies like this. The more moody sci-fi epics in our lives, the better.

Since then, the box office has looked less rosy. There have been some hits: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire took in $567 million, Kung Fu Panda 4 netted $539 million, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes snapped up $309 million and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire snagged $200 million. None of that touches Dune: Part Two, but it's respectable.

Other high-profile movies haven't fared nearly as well. The Fall Guy, a movie about stuntpeople starring Ryan Reynolds, took in $150 million on a budget of $125 million. The new family film IF has taken in $137 million on a $110 million budget, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has earned $114 million on a $168 million budget, which means it's probably on its way to bombing. All of this is fanning the flames of fear that the box office has fallen and it's not going to get up. It's especially upsetting that the movies that haven't done as well have been either original ideas or from niche franchises like Mad Max, which sends the signal to Hollywood that all anyone is willing to pay for are sequels and reboots.

Denis Villenueve seemed aware of that vibe when addressing a crowd at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto. “I’m disappointed to still be number one,” he said, per The Independent. “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.”

It's very possible that the recent box office slump is just a blip, especially with big movies like Inside Out 2 and especially Deadpool & Wolverine coming out on June 14 and July 26 respectively; Deadpool & Wolverine in particular seems destined to dominate. Although again, I wish some original ideas would break through that front. People got excited last year when Oppenheimer, a serious biopic about the man who inveted the atomic bomb, made nearly a billion dollars at the box office, but lightning has yet to strike twice on that score. We'll watch and wait and hope for the best.

In the meantime, Dune: Part Two is now available on home video, and Part Three is on the way.

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