Dune Just Demolished Two Fan-Favorite Star Wars Movies At The Box Office

Star Wars has been so influential on the genre that it is what pretty much any modern sci-fi movie is going to be measured against. So for the Dune movies to now be proving more profitable than some of the Star Wars films really speaks to how much audiences are resonating with the films.

Dune: Part Two has already blown past two Star Wars movies in revenue, and it is on course to pass at least one more.

Solo: A Star Wars Story made $393 million during its theatrical run, though that was considered low for a Star Wars movie.

However, the significantly more popular Return of the Jedi made $482 million when it was in theaters, and Dune: Part Two passed by the big conclusion of the original Star Wars trilogy as well.

So far, the Dune sequel has earned over $500 million. And with it likely still having plenty of time left in theaters, it seems almost certain that it will wind up making more than arguably the most popular Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, which made $549 million.

In case you are wondering how much Dune: Part Two would have to make to earn more than even the highest-grossing Star Wars movie, that would be 2015’s The Force Awakens, which made over $2 billion in theaters.

At its current trajectory, that certainly does not look like a mark that Dune: Part Two will be reaching, but it is hard to compete with the hype that was the first major Star Wars film in over a decade.

If Dune: Part Two does surpass The Empire Strikes Back, its next more feasible goal would be Attack of the Clones, which pulled in $656 million in its time in theaters.

All of these broken records ultimately just mean great news for Dune fans who are thrilled to finally see Frank Herbert’s books done justice on the big screen.

It is also promising because such a big return for the movies is fueling a lot of speculation that we may see a third Dune movie come to fruition under director Denis Villeneuve.

Despite all the box office competition statistics, even Star Wars fans should be excited about more Dune because it just means more of an often-overlooked genre getting screen time.

Though it should be noted, one interesting piece of trivia about the original Star Wars trilogy is that the box office returns for each movie got lower with each sequel. A New Hope was the highest earner with $775 million, and the following two movies each saw less returns than the previous one.

Whereas Dune: Part Two has already made significantly more than the first one. So if that continues and there is a third Dune, that sounds like it might actually have the potential to break a few more Star Wars box office records. It looks like we will have more Dune in our lives either way.

Source: Collider