Denis Villeneuve’s movie “Dune”, which debuted in North America with ticket sales of $40.1million, attracted a lot of moviegoers who were able to watch the sci-fi masterpiece on the big screen.

Warner Bros. released the Legendary Entertainment production in both theaters and online on HBO Max simultaneously. When the studio first charted that course for all its 2021 releases due to the pandemic, how the strategy would affect “Dune” — one of the year’s most anticipated spectacles — was always one of the biggest question marks. Villeneuve protested strongly against the decision.

Villeneuve stated in a long statement to Variety that he believes the future cinema will take place on the large screen regardless of what Wall Street dilettantes say,” Villeneuve said last December.

Warner Bros. maintained that they will be releasing exclusive theatrical films next year. The studio’s $165million-budgeted “Dune,” surpassing March’s $31.7 debut with “Godzilla vs. Kong”, is currently the highest domestic opening. The expectations for “Dune” were close to $30-35 Million.

Jeff Goldstein from Warner Bros. distribution chief said, “This was an incredible result as we’re ramping up out of the Pandemic.” It’s obvious that this is the case.

Goldstein said that the film would have made 20% more if it had not been streaming at the same time. The studio did not release streaming numbers.

The film “Dune”, which premiered in September at Venice Film Festival, already had $130 million worldwide. Legendary and Wanda distributed the film in China where it made its debut with $21.6 million. For a total global gross of $220.7million, “Dune”, which has accumulated $47.4 millions internationally, added an additional $47.4 million.

After David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation, “Dune,” Frank Herbert’s epic 1965 is being adapted by the big screen for the second time. Villeneuve’s “Dune,” which adapts only the first half of the book, stars Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya and Javier Bardem.

Warner Bros. has yet to confirm the sequel to “Dune,” which tells of an egregious power shift occurring on Arrakis desert, where the valuable mineral “spice”, is being harvested. Legendary and Warner Bros.

The movie received an A- CinemaScore from moviegoers and 83% of Rotten Tomatoes reviews. Critics have also praised Villeneuve’s film’s visuals and operatic sweep. The film did particularly well on large format screens. IMAX accounted for approximately $9 million in ticket sales.

“What I think Warner’s strategy has proven is that movie fans, by and large, will choose the movie theater experience when given the choice — particularly for movies like this,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. This should be encouraging news for theatre owners. There is no denying the appeal of the movie theatre, regardless of whether you have access to the content at home.

The top-rated film last week Universal Pictures’ horror sequel “Halloween Kills,”Peacock also released a successful streaming video that was streamed at home. The debut of “Halloween Kills”, which had $50.4 million in revenue, was a disaster. Its second week saw $14.5 million drop, good enough for second. It has earned $73.1 million in domestic sales within two weeks.

Cary Fukunaga’s James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig (“No Time to Die”) came third, with $11.9million in its third week. The film earned more than $525million worldwide. MGM, United Artists, and Universal Pictures charted a theater-only release for “No Time to Die.”

“Ron’s Gone Wrong”, the weekend’s greatest disappointment was not surprising. This Disney animation, which was produced before Disney bought the studio by 20th Century Fox, had a low-profile opening with just $7.3 million in domestic and around the same international.

With good reviews, and an audience score of “A”, the film should hold its own in the weeks ahead. Zach Galifiniakis voiced Ron’s Gone Wrong, a story about a middle-schooler with a walking, talking digital assistant Ron.

The French Dispatch was another Chalamet film that debuted well. Disney’s Searchlight Pictures released the Wes Anderson movie with $1.3million in 52 theaters. The French Dispatch had the lowest per-theater pandemic average.

Anderson’s tribute to New Yorker opens nationally on Friday. It had been delayed for a year due to the pandemic. While “The French Dispatch” — a $25 million film with a starry cast including Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Benicio del Toro, Tilda Swinton and others — isn’t a small indie, the film’s first-week performance gave arthouses a lift.

Frank Rodriguez, Searchlight Pictures distribution chief, said in a statement: “These figures show that after an year and half arthouse theaters and independent theaters had a superhero of its own in Wes Anderson.”

According to Comscore, Friday-Sunday ticket sales are estimated at approximately $2.5 billion in U.S. theaters and Canada. The final domestic numbers will be published Monday.

1. “Dune,” $40.1 Million
2. “Halloween Kills”, $14.5 Million
3. “No Time to Die”, $11.9 million
4. “Venom, Let There Be Carnage,” $9.1 Million
5. Ron’s Wrong”, $7.3 million
6. “The Addams Family 2,” $4.3million
7. “The Last Duel”, $2.1 million
8. “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” $2 Million
9. “The French Dispatch”, $1.3 million
10. Free Guy, $258,000

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