On 1 March 2024, Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve’s second instalment of Frank Herbert’s desert epic, opened in cinemas and immediately became the event of the early-year box office, pulling in more than $80 million in its domestic debut and $170 million worldwide. It was the biggest opening weekend of the year to that point, and for many it was the movie event that finally brought audiences back to cinemas in real numbers.
The film followed Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) as Paul became the messianic figure the Fremen had been promised, a story of prophecy, oil-like spice and the perils of charismatic leaders. Its towering scale, thunderous score by Hans Zimmer and use of IMAX screens made it a demonstration of what the cinema experience alone could deliver.
The film’s success was a vindication of patient world-building at a time when studios favoured quick returns, and its release was accompanied by the phenomenon of films like it being watched in IMAX again and again. Beyond the box office, Dune: Part Two helped cement the cultural moment of the mid-2020s, in which the grand spectacle of franchise cinema and the longing for meaningful, big-screen stories coexisted uneasily.