Friday Box Office: 'Dune Part 2' Drops Solid 62% as 'Cabrini' and 'Imaginary' Both Earn $3M

While losing the top spot to 'Kung Fu Panda 4,' Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi sequel is holding quite well in its second domestic weekend

In another case of why “rank doesn’t matter,” Dune Part Two lost its spot at the top of the domestic box office but still nabbed a strong second-Friday (and presumably second-weekend) hold. The Timothee Chalamet/Zendaya sci-fi sequel earned $12.5 million, dropping just 62% from its $32.2 million opening day. That compares favorably to Captain Marvel (-69%), Logan (-69%), The Batman (-67%) and 300 (-64%). We should be looking at an over/under $44 million (-47%) weekend. That’s a second-weekend hold tied with John Wick: Chapter 2, which (like Dune 2) doubled its predecessor’s opening weekend and earned more in weekend two than the first respective film earned in weekend one. Legendary and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Dune Part Two will have around $155 million domestic by Sunday night.

It has earned $13.8 million in China since Friday, for a likely opening on par with the first film’s $21 million debut. Dune earned $39.5 million in China, and this one looks to do about the same. Reaching your predecessor’s earnings in China is actually impressive by Covid-era Hollywood standards, even if both films debuted in the 2020s. Presuming a continued 45/55 domestic/overseas split plus around $21 million from China, Dune Part Two could have around $365 million global by Sunday night. That will be past the Covid-impacted $366 million total for Tenet and already among the top-earning post-#Barbenheimer Hollywood releases thus far alongside fellow WBD releases Meg 2: The Trench ($390 million), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ($433 million) and Wonka (around $630 million by tomorrow).

I do not know why Universal passed on Blumhouse’s Imaginary, but as a result, both of this weekend’s biggest newbies feature extraordinary bears at the center of their fantastical narratives. The real surprise is that, of the two, I enjoyed Imaginary even more than the DWA sequel and certainly more than Night Swim. It’s partially about expectations. Kung Fu Panda 2 is one of the best American animated films of the 2010s. Kung Fu Panda 4 ($19.5 million on Friday for an over/under $58 million weekend) felt, like its immediate predecessor, like a toned-down, melodrama-lite feature-length episode of the Legends of Awesomeness show. I keep hoping that DreamWorks will embrace its potential as a more dramatic, adventure-skewing animation studio alongside the more grounded, mid-life-crisis comedies coming out of Illumination. Fingers crossed for The Wild Robot in September.

Imaginary, about a stepmom who moves her new family into her childhood home only for weird stuff to start happening related to her stepdaughter’s teddy bear, starts as a seemingly by-the-book Blumhouse single-locale haunted house flick. However, it goes in some unexpected and visually impressive directions – aided by Betty Buckley going full-genre and chewing a constipation-level amount of scenery -- in its protracted third act. We’re not talking Hellraiser 2-level spectacle, and it’s a PG-13 movie. However, DeWanda Wise makes a compelling lead and considering the $10 million budget, I was overly impressed by what we got. Anyway, It earned $3.6 million on Friday for what will likely be a $9.3 million opening weekend. That’s an okay opening for a cheap flick with decent enough post-theatrical revenue potential.

Cabrini opened relatively well, with $3 million on Friday. The faith-based melodrama starring Cristiana Dell’Anna as Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini comes from director Alejandro Gómez Monteverde, whose Sound of Freedom (a shot-in-2018 acquisition) of course became a $185 million-grossing sensation last summer. Whether or not the filmmaker is, relatively speaking, a marquee director for the Angel Studios demographic, this is undoubtedly going to open better (around $7.8 million) than After Death ($5 million) and The Shift ($4.3 million). We should no more expect Angel Studios to regularly put out Sound of Freedom-sized hits than we should expect every political documentary to perform like Farenheight 9/11. With an A from Cinemascore, this is a solid launch (with possible Easter season legs) by usual Angel Studios standards. Alas, Cabrini features no fantastical bears.

Jia Ling’s YOLO, about a young woman who tries to reverse years of self-imposed social isolation, will earn around $790,000 in 200 theaters courtesy of Sony. That compares to its month-long run in China, where it is the year’s biggest global grosser at $479 million. Ling’s last movie, Hi, Mom, earned $833 million in 2021, besting Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman ($821 million) as the top-grossing film ever by a solo female filmmaker. Obviously, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie now has that milestone, but let’s see Gerwig’s next film earn over/under $480 million worldwide. So next time someone tells you that Hollywood can’t make female-led biggies because of China (as Drive-Away Dolls sits with $5 million domestic after 17 days) or that Little Mermaid bombed in China because of sexism, kindly tell them to go to hell.

Meanwhile, Love Lies Bleeding may have the makings of another A24 “cool indie genre hit” release (Lionsgate is distributing overseas). The well-received (93% fresh and 7/8/10 on Rotten Tomatoes) crime melodrama about a relationship between a gym manager (Kristen Stewart) and a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian) earned $71,102 in five theaters. That could lead to a $200,000 opening weekend and $33,279 per-theater-average. It’ll expand wide next weekend, so we’ll see if it breaks out beyond the arthouse crowd. Super quick holdover update, but Migration has passed $125 million, while Bob Marley: One Love will be near $90 million tomorrow. By the way, with a $6 million cume tomorrow, the fourth season of The Chosen has earned — combined — $42.7 million in North American theaters. That’s essentially found money for multiplexes.