Menor the Destroyer

Agreed on BO, I am more worried about reviews from the perspective of my personal enjoyment. I would be lying if I said I hadn't expected the reactions to be a bit better.

Afternoon update: Dune is at 39270/259745, $537532. Think it's headed for a 60k finish, which would point at right around the 5m range I think? Let's see where MTC1 lands.

Call it ambitious either way. Make it impossible to tell. Am seeing it tonight as well, really excited.

Looking at the featurette I do get a better sense of where the reactions saying it's the most beautiful MCU movie are coming from. There are a few really stunning shots in there, much better than anything shown in the trailers. Guess I am done watching promo material, seeing those I'm hyped enough.

Yep. Google Trends to predict the OW is only useful when you're really far in advance and have little other data. When we're this close and have specific presale data, it's useless. For example, people would likely search "Bond" rather than "No Time to Die", and while Google's Topics usually capture that sort of thing, it isn't perfect.

MTC2 presales are looking to be closer to 70% of NTTD, so using the MTC1 comp alone may overindex. That said MTC2 may be underindexing more than MTC1 over, especially with little IMAX in the chain.

Morning start is 33617/259745, $463866. Decent start, it's pacing similarly to TSS. If it can keep matching TSS walkups, will finish ahead of Bond.

I don't think that was what they meant. I have seen some of these tweets as well. It's more like Kingo's name being used as a joke by people who haven't watched the movie.

I like the shot of the Celestial at 0:28.

The BW comp is ok I think, it's been 10 days vs 13 so things will have normalized. But for SC if you bring it back it'll have 4 days vs 11, still seems a bit too skewed.

Sorry, had to step out last night, so posting the #s from last night now. These are 24-hour paces though, just posted late. Dune MTC2 Thursday: Showtimes: 1814 (+105) Seats Sold: 28837/257650 (+5262) Total $ Sales: 400990 (+70846) NTTD Comp: 4.7 million Not too bad of a jump here. It kept pace with Bond's jump for today. Hopefully it can at least have slightly better walkups (Bond's were not good at all). Friday: Showtimes: 3540 (+130) Seats Sold: 36896/532456 (+7350) Total $ Sales: 476207 (+90566) NTTD Comp: 12.3 million Not a great jump here. I am dropping my 14 million prediction for Friday to 11.5 million. OW in the 35-37 million range. Eternals MTC2 Thursday: Showtimes: 1966 Seats Sold: 25542/320507 (+1879) Total $ Sales: 364671 (+26480) Black Widow Comp (Ontario adjusted, no ATP adjustment): 9.2 million Friday: Showtimes: 3713 Seats Sold: 17453/620366 (+1288) Total $ Sales: 234432 (+17520) Black Widow Comp (Ontario adjusted, no ATP adjustment): 20.7 million Keeping a good pace after the social bump. Hopefully it continues.

Dune being one of the inspirations is very different from "Star Wars is pretty much Dune with some parts snipped out." That characterization just seems hyperbolic to me. They are different types of stories at the core.

I mean this list is self contradictory, if Chani is Padme then Paul is Anakin, but your first statement is saying Paul is Luke (completely different characters regardless of surface level similarity). Same thing with Jedi and BG, you can find similarity but what they actually do in the narrative is quite different. The CHOAM and Trade Federation comparison also seems rather thin to me, again considering their respective roles in the story.

I would say Tatooine is quite heavily inspired by Dune but Star Wars as a whole? Not really. The stories are completely different.

3001 would be a really interesting one. I think I have been convinced by you and @Plain Old Tele that Rama can be successfully adapted with the right people. Would be really exciting to see for sure.

Feeling good. Hopefully the Astros don't choke this.

The OT has politics that is almost completely uncontroversial in the West, at least on the surface. There is a Vietnam allegory but it's extremely hidden. That's why it wasn't noticed. There was outcry in TFA even from the trailer when people saw a black stormtrooper. There were calls to boycott Rogue One before the movie was even out because people thought it was "political" to have a diverse cast. Besides "politics that fits into the universe", in practice, usually means "politics that I agree with."

TSS probably ~40 without HBO Max (based on the UK opening). Dune has a more committed fanbase, so spitballing would maybe add 30% with no Max? Would need to open in the high 50s to justify the 75m without Max.

Safe? Definitely not. The presales aren't that far behind BW, and it should have better late bumps since the characters aren't well known. I would be quite surprised if it didn't open higher than BW. Also with the BW comparison, remember BW had an awful Sat. Eternals is opening during the school year and is theatrical exclusive, will have a much better weekend trend.

Why on earth would you want to cut the dinner scene????

I keep forgetting day and date. Yeah then my Sat bump was too optimistic for sure.

Even in Canada, Bond would be ahead.

Yeah that's what I'm saying, did their source just completely mess it up, or are they making it up.

Also did Deadline just straight up make something up here? That article claims that Dune PS is higher than Black Widow.

I think it could make a very good movie, but not sure about audience appeal. It would be a pretty "cold" movie, for lack of a better word. Not something that would do too well at the BO.