Box Office: 'Dune Part Two' Could Remain Among 2024's Biggest Hits By Default

Amid a slate heavy on questionable sequels and C-level IP, Timothée Chalamet's sci-fi sequel may remain one of this year's top-grossing Hollywood blockbusters

Legendary and Warner Bros. Discovery's Dune Part Two has earned around $515 million worldwide as of Wednesday, including $213.5 million in North America and a surprisingly solid $36.1 million in China. In unadjusted domestic earnings, it is the third "not a DC or Wizarding World or Middle Earth" WB release to pass $200 million domestic since last July. It is the 20th such feature overall out of the studio's 46 $200 million-plus earners and more evidence that the studio is (say it with me now) more than just Batman and Harry Potter (it's also a seemingly half-hearted Beetlejuice legacy sequel... yay?). 

The Timothée Chalamet/Zendaya action fantasy will double the first Dune's $108 million domestic cume while passing Wonka ($219 million) tomorrow. It is on track to earn around 2.5x its predecessor's $108 million domestic cume while earning "just" 1/3 more than its processor's $295 million overseas total back in 2021. If you count the recent reissue, it'll earn "only" 24% more overseas. That implies that the pandemic and Project Popcorn variables didn't do any real damage to the first Dune. And/or -- like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (from $375 million worldwide to $691 million worldwide via a 100% domestic jump)-- it is more of a breakout sequel in North America than around the world. 

It's pulling a 41/59 domestic/overseas split, solid for a COVID-era Hollywood tentpole now that a Chinese release is mostly "found money." That's how it should have always been treated. Speaking of which, while it was the year's top domestic earner on its first Sunday, Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part Two took a few weeks to become the globally top-earning film of the year. Only last Sunday did it top the global $481 million total of YOLO. With few Hollywood biggies on the horizon that might make a run at $485 million worldwide, Dune 2 and YOLO may be tops for the year well into the summer.