Text | Rhino Entertainment, author｜Nan Rumin, editor｜Pu Fang
No one thought that the first hit movie in the new year would be " Dune 2" from Villeneuve.
This is not to say that "Dune 2" is not qualified, but its predecessor did not make waves in the market. The global box office was only 400 million US dollars, even though it won a certain degree of reputation. Now facing the upcoming "Dune 2", it has become the object of national expectation. Rhino Entertainment believes that the next sequel is bound to have a substantial increase in box office.
"Dune 2", the most anticipated movie of the year?
" Dune " cannot be described as unknown, but after all, it has the attribute of being both popular and popular. This epic epic science fiction movie belongs to the standard Villeneuve style, with a unique epic style, whether it is " Arrival" and "Blade Runner 2049" have both achieved breakthrough reputations. But after all, his works have niche attributes and have not been commercially successful, and he cannot escape the fate of being well-received but not well-received.
Therefore, it is difficult to discuss Villeneuve together with business tycoons such as Cameron and Nolan. On the contrary, he belongs to the ranks of craftsmen. His level of beauty has made Director Wei gain a lot in the world. A following that ranks among the best directors today. However, how to seek breakthroughs at the commercial level and how to join the category of business leaders is still a problem faced by Wei Dao.
The commercial blockbuster "Dune" is undoubtedly a rare opportunity for the director to prove himself. The film is a remake of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel "Dune", and "Dune" is as important to science fiction novels as "The Lord of the Rings" is to fantasy novels. It has an average status and is an absolutely landmark work. This is also the first time that Wei Wei has created a science fiction epic of this scale.
The final film achieved a relatively "medium" score. Whether it was Rotten Tomatoes in North America or Douban in China, it did not gain the reputation of a god-level work. At the market level, North America received US$100 million, the mainland market only received 250 million+, and the global market only achieved US$400 million. In fact, if we calculate based on the data, considering the high cost of the film of more than 160 million US dollars, the pressure to repay the money is still very high.
But even so, the work on the sequel is very smooth. Director Wei has even locked in the trilogy in advance. Of course, for this novel that is extremely difficult to put on the big screen, it can be realized to this extent, which is actually considered a success. . Under the premise that the market for the previous work is average, the sequel is progressing smoothly, which fully proves Director Wei's status in Hollywood and the trust of the producer Warner in him. After all, excellent directors are still an extremely scarce resource.
So the question is, the first "Dune" did not achieve phenomenal explosive performance. Whether it was word-of-mouth or market performance, it did not reach the category of a blockbuster. Under this premise, why is the sequel so popular? In fact, some problems cannot be taken at face value. There are many reasons why "Dune 2" is hailed by many as the most anticipated movie in 2024.
directly destroyed the North American pre-sale series and
everything. The best proof is the box office. In today's business era, the box office is the dimension that best proves a movie. What "Dune" didn't do, "Dune 2" may have to do more. At present, the North American pre-sale of "Dune 2" has begun, and the pre-sale system soon encountered paralysis. The official website and app of AMC Cinemas fell into a state of long-term paralysis. This situation is relatively rare in history.
You must know that the last movie that paralyzed the pre-sales series in North America was " Spider-Man: No Homecoming ". The film once achieved an astonishing result of more than 800 million US dollars in North America, and currently ranks second in the box office in North American history. . As a benchmark, "Dune 2" is bound to usher in a wave of bloody battles in the North American market, and is expected to significantly surpass the box office volume of its predecessor.
Many people may not understand why a sequel to a movie that cost only US$100 million in North America has received such a big response? In fact, this is not the case. Many people often underestimate the true strength of the first film.Rhino Entertainment believes that there are three main reasons why "Dune 2" brought such a devastating impact and was able to directly explode the pre-sale system.
First of all, "Dune" cannot be defined by the US$100 million box office in North America. You must know that the film will be released on the big screen in North America in 2021, using a synchronized theater + streaming method. At the same time as it was released in theaters, it was also released on HBO Max, so the box office received a huge discount, and this was already Warner Bros. The highest-grossing movie in dual-line release.
During the epidemic, a large number of movies chose to log on to streaming media, and some later projects chose dual insurance of theater + streaming media. Therefore, it is meaningless to analyze from the perspective of box office alone. It is unknown whether the US$100 million back then can be converted into US$200 million or US$400 million today. In short, $100 million is completely unable to define and match the popularity of "Dune".
Secondly, the "Dune" series is a trilogy, and the first part largely functions as a "trailer". After a long 156 minutes, the film leaves an extremely heart-wrenching ending, which foreshadows The entire series has just begun. This gripping plot structure at the end makes viewers who have watched it look forward to the following plots.
Just like when "The Lord of the Rings" was released, its ending was hailed as the most anticipated sequel setting in history. Including last year's domestic blockbuster "Feng Shen", the appearance of Wen Zhong at the end also greatly aroused the audience's expectations for the sequel. Now, after waiting for two and a half years, the release of "Dune 2" is bound to attract the attention of the audience of the previous film, and it is reasonable to be eager to buy tickets.
Finally, according to a series of word-of-mouth reports, "Dune 2" will be a rare masterpiece that surpasses its predecessor. Both the word-of-mouth and the entire action scene have surpassed the first film. The current large number of reviews seems to indicate that the film will be a huge improvement compared to its predecessor. This seemed to make the audience even more excited, which was ultimately reflected in the crazy ticket purchases.
has some controversial reviews compared to the first one, whether they are boring or plain, these have affected its market performance to a certain extent. If the reputation revealed so far is true, then "Dune 2" will be more commercial and focus more on action scenes, which is basically destined to have better market performance. In short, the paralysis of the pre-sale series has shown the attitude of the audience.
In recent years in Hollywood, the "yes men" (i.e. Villeneuve and Nolan) have basically become the spokespersons of top directors. Among the best directors selected by Rotten Tomatoes some time ago, Villeneuve also ranked third. The second position, now he is finally slowly moving closer to business and has made up for his last shortcoming. Next is the moment for "Dune 2" to shine.
