‘Dune: Part Two’ release delayed by two weeks

UPDATED, 11:07 am: Dune: Part Two It’s a little closer now. Warner Bros said today that Denis Villeneuve’s sequel starring Timothée Chalamet will premiere March 1sttwo weeks earlier than planned.

PREVIOUSLY, August 24: As expected, the anticipated sequel from Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. Dune: Part Two by Denis Villeneuve is moving its theatrical release from November 3rd to March 15, 2024, due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. The sequel based on Frank Herbert’s novel will also have Imax on its new date. Don’t be surprised if Dune: Part Two shoots at the Berlin Film Festival or SXSW in late winter/early spring.

Meanwhile, despite rumors that Warner Bros. has further shaken up its December release calendar due to the strike, the studio’s current holiday mainstays Wonka (December 15), D.C. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 20) and The color purple (December 25) will maintain their dates, even if the SAG-AFTRA strike still persists. Suspicions abounded when there was no trailer for this summer from James Wan Aquaman 2 set for the theatrical release of the Warner film Barbie. Warners heard loud and clear at the screening that it needs these films like air after the Covid shutdown of 2020-21. The theater circuits are working aggressively with Burbank to promote these photos on their social media channels and to loyalty club members.

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Dune: Part Two is taking the date previously held by Legendary’s Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, which now moves to April 12th. Scheduled for that date was New Line’s animated feature Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, who was pushed to December 13, 2024. Godzilla X-Kong on its new date it remains unopposed by any rival pillars. The only other film dated December 13th of next year is Sony’s reboot of The Karate Kid. O Dune the sequel also remains unopposed currently on its new March date.

It is logical that Dune: Part Two would be pushed. While the first Dune won six Oscars and was one of the highest-grossing films during Covid with $402 million at WW, the film’s box office prospects were largely truncated by a day-and-date theatrical release on Warner’s streaming service, HBO Max. It was a move that frustrated a lot Dune financier and producer Legendary as well as its filmmaker. This time, both Legendary and Warners are on the same page with release plans for Dune: Part Two.

The sequel has the potential to be another Star Wars and to build a future franchise for Legendary and Warners, and needs the social media power of its young cast that includes Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler to do so. The four together have more than 258 million followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with Zendaya accounting for 71% of them on IG alone. His unavailability during the actors’ strike was one of the main reasons MGM pulled its steamy, R-rated tennis romance film, Challengers, directed by Luca Guadagnino, out of its Venice Film Festival premiere, and out of its September release date for a late April 2024 release.

RELATED: ‘Challengers’ Trailer: Zendaya Playing Her Own Doubles Game in Luca Guadagnino’s Tennis Drama

With the 2024 theatrical release schedule remaining in jeopardy due to ongoing strikes, Dune: Part Two It is Godzilla X-Kong provide assurance for exhibition that the cinema recovery has stimulated Barbie It is Oppenheimer in 2023 it will continue into the New Year.

Dune: Part Two arrives on a prime weekend during spring break, ahead of the March 29-31 Easter holiday. Dune: Part Two explores the mythic journey of Paul Atreides (Chalamet) as he teams up with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Faced with a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he strives to avoid a terrible future that only he can predict.

What happens now that Dune: Part Two is it out of 2023? Many expected a seismic shift in the underpinnings from 2023, but we hear that is not the case. It’s possible that the Disney/Marvel Studios sequel The wonderscurrently dated November 10th, it could move to November 3rd and take advantage of the availability of Imax screens that are being left behind by Dune: Part Two. Going up Wonders would also provide longer playtime on large format screens before the Lionsgate prequel O Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes arrives on November 17th. Starter of Sony’s Marvel franchise, Kraven the Hunter moved its first weekend in October due to the SAG-AFTRA strike and moved up to Labor Day weekend 2024. Filling that slot is a big break from Sony’s Gamestop meme comedy, Stupid money, on October 6.

Insiders say The wonders is meeting its deadline.

Another advantage for Godzilla X-Kong on its new date: the pic could benefit from a release in China around that time, with previous Legendary Monsterverse films doing a lot of green there, i.e. Godzilla ($77.6 million in 2014), Kong: Skull Island ($168.2 million in 2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters ($135.4 million in 2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong ($188.7 million in 2021).

Meanwhile, despite Dune: Part Two moving to 2024, Imax still has enough support to generate the entire bank from the remainder of 2023, including The Equalizer 3, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Exorcist: Believer, The Wonders, The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Wonka, Aquaman 2 more more Oppenheimer It is Barbie reservations in the near future.