Worldwide box office March 1-3

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘Dune: Part Two’ opens with $178m worldwide

Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two has debuted with a confirmed $182.5m worldwide – the biggest opening for any film since Barbie landed with an explosive $356m in July last year. The Dune number breaks down into $82.5m for North America and $100m for 71 international markets.

Dune: Part Two is towering over an otherwise becalmed global box office, with more than 10 times the takings of the film in second place (South Korean hit Exhuma), and a 63% share of the top 10.

For international and in like-for-like markets, Dune: Part Two is so far tracking 76% ahead of 2021’s Dune, and only 12% behind last year’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and 16% behind Oppenheimer. The film topped the box office in 67 of the 71 international markets, and was behind local titles in the other four.

China and Japan are yet to release – the original Dune grossed $46.2m in those two territories across the full run.

After three days of play, UK/Ireland leads international territories for Part Two, with a confirmed $11.8m. Next come France ($9.8m), Germany ($9.1m), South Korea ($6.8m) and Australia ($5.9m), Italy ($4/1m), and Mexico ($3.9m).

Dune: Part Two delivered $32.2m at 809 IMAX screens worldwide – 18% of the film’s opening box office. It’s the seventh-biggest opening number for IMAX in like-for-like markets, and the biggest ever for Warner Bros in these markets.

The original Dune film grossed $108.9m in North America over its lifetime, and Part Two is already 75% of the way to reaching that number in the domestic market. Globally, Dune grossed $433.8m, and Part Two has further to go to match that tally – so far, it’s 41% of the way there.

For cinemagoers preferring to see the film in IMAX and on premium large-format screens, those audiences may wait for seat availability rather than compromise on format – suggesting Dune: Part Two could achieve a strong sustain at least into the second weekend.

On the other hand, box office for sequels is usually more front-loaded, as fans of the first film rush out to see the second. It remains to be seen how the push-and-pull of these two factors plays out in the coming days.

Strong hold pushes Korean hit ‘Exhuma’ to second place globally

While Dune: Part Two remains far ahead of every other film on release, Korean horror hit Exhuma earns the distinction of second place in the worldwide box office chart. Having debuted a week ago with $16.8m, the film achieved $17.2m for the second weekend, taking the total after 12 days to $43.6m, and more than six million admissions.

Starring Choi Min-sik and Kim Go-eun, Exhuma follows two shamans, a feng shui expert and a mortician who team up to get to the bottom of a series of mysterious events plaguing a wealthy family by exhuming its ancestor’s grave in a remote Korean village.

Exhuma reached six million admissions a whole week faster than 2023’s biggest film in South Korea, local hit 12,12: The Day, a historical saga depicting Korea’s military coup in 1979. Lifetime box office for that film reached $95.8m in South Korea.

Exhuma is one of seven Asian films in Comscore’s worldwide top 10 chart, alongside Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Training and five titles that are currently dominating the Chinese box office. Among the latter, Taiwanese black comedy action thriller The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon is the sole new release.

‘Bob Marley: One Love’ closes in on $150m

After three weekends of play, Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love has reached $146.1m at the worldwide box office: $82.8m in North America and $63.3m in international markets. The film added an estimated $16.2m at the weekend, earning third place in Comscore’s chart.

France, with an estimated $2.2m, was the top international market at the weekend, but UK/Ireland remains out in front in terms of cumulative box office, with $17.3m. France comes second with $12.7m, and other territories are far behind.

Bob Marley: One Love opens later this month in Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam, with Malaysia to follow in April and Japan in May.