“Dune: Part Two” director Denis Villeneuve is “disappointed” the movie remains the biggest box office success of 2024, he told reporters after he received the Academy Icon Award at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards. He’d like to see more films — not just ones directed by him — doing well in theaters.
“I think we need movies that are theatrical experiences, that will fully embrace the power of the theater, and I’m not just talking about ‘Dune 2.’ Of course I’m talking about many movies,” he said. “A movie like ‘Civil War,’ for instance, is a strong example of a movie that absolutely used the power of the theater.”
“I was lucky that ‘Part Two’ did reach the audience, I wish it would happen more often, honestly,” Villeneuve continued. “I’m disappointed to still be number one. … I hope soon that there will be other successes at the box office. I hope, sooner or later, that this summer box office will be much better.”
The summer box office has gotten off to a slow start. “Furiosa,” which debuted over Memorial Day weekend, brought in $32 million — the lowest No. 1 Memorial Day release since 1995. The four-day weekend brought in $128 million, far lower than the projected $160 million theaters were expected to make last week.
Insiders have acknowledged that the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in 2023 have had an impact on this year’s box office results. Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian told TheWrap, “I don’t think this is an inflection point where we say, ‘Oh, if the pandemic didn’t finish it off, the strikes will.’ This is a slump that I think everyone in Hollywood saw coming when the strikes went on for weeks on end. So many factors came together to disassemble any hope of a really strong Memorial Day weekend.”
There’s still hope for the summer box office, though — July will see the release of “Despicable Me 4,” “Twisters” and, perhaps most importantly, this year’s only Marvel Cinematic Universe film, “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
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