‘Dune: Part Two’ attracts a large audience

“Dune: Part Two” and its A-list cast got off to a flying start in North America after a dismal start to the year.

The sci-fi sequel sold an estimated $81.5 million in tickets in the United States and Canada from Thursday evening through Sunday, the biggest opening for a Hollywood film since “Barbie” in July. (Taylor Swift’s concert documentary grossed $93 million in October.) “Dune: Part Two,” directed by Denis Villeneuve, grossed another $97 million overseas. IMAX showings were particularly strong.

Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. spent $190 million to produce ‘Dune: Part Two’, not including a megawatt marketing campaign that saw Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Austin Butler, Anya-Taylor Joy, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Florence Pugh trot down the red carpet in Mexico City , London and New York.

The film was originally scheduled for a November release, but Legendary postponed the release date due to the actors’ strike: without the vibrant young cast that promoted the film – Zendaya’s robot suit with bare bottom at its London premiere, it hit the internet like a sonic boom – Legendary feared that “Part Two” wouldn’t generate enough of an audience to justify its high budget. Sci-fi fans would probably come one way or another. But Legendary also had to sell the film’s more delicate story — a boy becoming a man, a man falling in love — which would be more difficult without interviews with the cast.

“It was a difficult decision because I knew that moving the film from the fall would cause a lot of pain to the exhibition,” said Josh Grode, CEO of Legendary, using Hollywood jargon for theaters. “But when you have a cast like this, you use it.”

“We are really happy,” Mr Grode added.

Ticket sales in North America were down 20 percent this year compared to the same period last year. “Dune: Part Two” narrowed the decline to 13 percent. Theaters have struggled in part because studios haven’t released a steady stream of films; Going to the movies brings moviegoing, analysts say, with trailers playing before titles one weekend, filling seats the next. The marquees will be less scarce in March. “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and Legendary’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” are all expected to be hits.

Second place this weekend went to “Bob Marley: One Love” (Paramount), with approximately $7.4 million in ticket sales, bringing its three-week domestic total to $82.8 million. The faith-based drama “Ordinary Angels” (Lionsgate) has raised $3.9 million for a two-week total of $12.6 million.