solaris

Great teaser. The Alien franchise has a great track record in teasers and trailers and this is no exception. The Alien franchise is very close to my heart (probably obvious with the avatar there...), and even though Prometheus and Covenant were disappointments - they were Ridley Scott disappointments, so at the very least they were both visually stunning, and had lofty pretentions (that the storytelling and script couldn't hold up). I still think the backburster sequence - while narratively nonsensical - is a brilliantly executed bit of gruesome chaos. I really really hope that this doesn't suck. It's an excellent teaser and I have faith Fede can deliver a genuinely scary (and gory) Alien film. The cinematographry and set design looks great - fingers crossed he can bring the right tone and atmosphere to match. No idea how this will perform, but if Alien Covenant can get to $250m WW then I see no reason why a (hopefully) decent and well reviewed Alien Romulus can't cross $200m WW (Covenant had universally appalling legs everywhere). I'd like to think the Alien franchise still has a modicum of prestige - but I appreciate that I'm slightly biased!

I assume so... Adding the reported grosses for each territory brings it to this total. It's probably up to at least $35/36m now as it stayed level in Germany this weekend, and has been performing well in Italy too. $40m WW would be an incredible result for a film like this.

Solid numbers all round (Cabrini excepted but that was always going to be a non starter here) How high can Dune go? £35m seems assured at this point... Wondering if Easter legs can help this stretch to £40m? WLL quietly getting to £7.5m (with plenty of gas in the tank) and Migration and Marley both overperforming are all nice to see too.

Can Dune hit +$30m this weekend?

It's not helping if you're comparing the openings in USD (not saying that anyone here is, but that's how it'll be reported in the weekend write ups, and how UK opening weekend will be compared to Germany, France etc) But yes, I agree - no day/date holding back part one opening as in US, and there were fewer (if any) covid restrictions still in place by the time this opened here in October vs rest of Europe in September (I think Germany and France both still had restrictions in place at that time, but I might be wrong). So a 50% increase is still pretty good.

The first one opened with £5.8m With £2.8m Friday and £3.6m Saturday this should get to at least £9m for the full weekend (+50% from part one). Weak exchange rate isn't helping but still a pretty good result. BFI IMAX is sold out or near sold out for most of the next month... The only showings with vaguely decent seats left are Monday or Tuesday morning showings at the end of March.

$11m $12m

Are we doing Villeneuve rankings list now? Is that a yes? Arrival Sicario Dune 1 Prisoners Bladerunner 2049 Enemy Haven't seen the francophone stuff... I need to rectify. Aside from Arrival, which was instantly one of my favourite films of all time, the ranking for everything else could shift. They're all great - as others have said, he's incredibly consistent. Enemy is brilliant but it's the one I would be least inclined to rewatch.

It's not really comparable to an MCU film though, is it? Villeneuve squarely sits in the capital A 'Auteur' camp that the academy loves (Nolan, Cameron). His first six films have been nominated for 28 oscars and won nine (including two best picture nominations - both in the sci-fi genre). Dunc 1 was nominated for 10 Oscars and won six. It's an adaptation of a beloved 20th century literary classic (see LOTR). Nearly all of the reviews praise Villeneuve's vision and highlight how dark and complex the film is for a big budget tentpole. To be clear, I don't think this means Dune Part Two will *win* any major Oscars, but it almost certainly feels like this is the ordained choice for prestige big budget blockbuster that gets nominated in Best Picture - since expanding the ballot in 2009 there's almost always 1-2 represented (The Martian, Gravity, TGM, Avatar 1-2, Fury Road, District 9, and yes - Black Panther). Joker 2 and Furiosa feel like much more unknown quantities - a musical Joker feels like it could be a big swing, and a big miss (too early to tell), and Fury Road was lightning in a bottle. Based on the glowing reviews so far and Villeneuve's track record I'd bet good money on this ending up in Best Picture top 10 next year

Obviously we are VERY early in the awards calendar for 2024, but it's a pretty desolate year in terms of contenders. This will absolutely dominate technical/artistic categories and should be a pretty strong contender for nominations in Picture/Director. Villeneuve is already starting to build an 'overdue' narrative. I wonder if either Walken or Butler could sneak into Supporting Actor too - Butler seems to be getting singled out a lot in the reviews. I'm still not sure if this can break through a $200m ceiling in the US - a lot of reviews are mentioning how bizarre and bleak the film is. This does feel primed for some absolutely gargantuan numbers in Europe - maybe I'm drinking the kool aid but $50m here in UK doesn't feel like a stretch. Zendaya's vintage Mugler/C3PO shenanigans have more or less directly caused three work colleagues (all women) to check out Part One on Netflix.

In the many many months of online discourse and oscar watching about the race between Gladstone and Stone, not once have I seen Aloha mentioned as a strike against Stone. It came out 10 years ago, and as others have pointed out, she's already won an Oscar since then. Aloha is a non issue. I didn't love Poor Things as much as others seem to, but Stone is undeniably brilliant. Hüeller would get my vote this year, but Stone is a worthy winner. Lily Gladstone is also great but it's a much quieter performance, and KOTFM has (sadly) lost it's way over the season. As for Poor Things vs Madame Web box office - apples and oranges. One is a platform release from a Greek auteur who makes deliberately strange, unsettling, and not typically audience friendly films. The other is a $100m budgeted spin off from one of the most successful and bankable franchises out there. Poor Things is on track to clear $100m worldwide, and possibly a fair bit more. Although it's running out of steam domestically, it should scrape to $35-38m. Madame Web might eke out $50m if lucky. Poor Things might even end up with a higher Ww gross.

The extremely positive reactions leave me even more confused as to where this will end up box-office wise. Hyperbolic takes comparing this to Dark Knight, Two Towers, ESB should surely indicate a huge breakout... But I'm still haunted by MI7. Dune is capital H Hard Sci Fi and it feels like there's a natural ceiling for this. US - should see a very healthy increase based on HBO Max non-factor. Thinking $75m OW / $200m total (Logan-ish numbers) UK/France/Germany/Spain/Italy - feels primed for a breakout in the big European markets. Villeneuve's sensibility is very Eurocentric - spectacle but *artistic*. And all these European premieres will help. UK - $45m / France - $40m / Germany - $35m / Spain - $20m / Italy -$20m China - no idea... Any word on tracking? $40m as per Part One? S Korea - $25m? Australia - $20m? WW total Dom+Intl - $630m

Dune reactions... Or rather when they are 🫡

Certain artists' stories feel far more suited to a documentary format. Whitney and Amy's stories, both exploited by the industry to tragic ends, were both covered in two excellent documentaries. Biopics where tragedy is mixed with noble redemption or absolution are far more appealing to audiences and suitable for dramatisation (see Elvis, BR, Marley etc)