Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Villeneuve is right, though, that streaming Dune at the same time as its theatrical release will severely cut into its overall gross, thus harming the prospects for a Part 2 to be greenlighted. Streaming just doesn't bring in the revenue needed to support big tent-pole projects like Dune. One reason increasing numbers of people prefer to stream films is that they find it's cheaper than going to the theater to watch them. Good for their wallets, but not the movie studios'.
COVID has definitely left movie studios in a bind, so I do understand Warner Brothers decision. At least they are committing to giving their big spectacle movies a theatrical release, which is more than Disney is doing.
I figure Warner Brothers very carefully calculated their return on their theatrical release of Tenet, and found it wanting. I don't think anyone else has better numbers to use.
I figure Warner Brothers very carefully calculated their return on their theatrical release of Tenet, and found it wanting. I don't think anyone else has better numbers to use.
Maybe. We'll never know.
With DUNE, I was expecting a typical Villenueve movie: Beautiful, brilliant, rabid nerd following, beloved by critics, but a box office bomb.
I figure Warner Brothers very carefully calculated their return on their theatrical release of Tenet, and found it wanting. I don't think anyone else has better numbers to use.
I'd use numbers from last fall, as I think by October 2021 the pandemic will be in the rear view mirror. Pretty much everyone ought to be immunized by then. Tenet didn't do well in the US because theaters in New York and California were closed, and elsewhere in the country COVID had convinced most people to stay home. Overseas where it was safe to go to a theater, it did pretty well.
The bigger question is will Dune be another Arrival or another Blade Runner 2049? THAT is the big unknown.
A movie that, frankly, needs to be streamed to find its audience.
But that won't happen unless it's on a much more widely available streaming platform than HBO Max.
Streaming right now, with the proliferation of all these new studio-specific services, is narrowcasting, not broadcasting, which limits the potential audience too much for a movie like Dune to do well IMHO.
I'd use numbers from last fall, as I think by October 2021 the pandemic will be in the rear view mirror. Pretty much everyone ought to be immunized by then. Tenet didn't do well in the US because theaters in New York and California were closed, and elsewhere in the country COVID had convinced most people to stay home. Overseas where it was safe to go to a theater, it did pretty well.
I have my doubts about how smoothly immunization will go in this country. Warner Brothers might have those doubts as well. And their movies are costing them big bucks for every day they sit on the shelf. Loans are due. At some point, the chance of theater audience in October is cancelled by the money they're losing until then.
Quote:
The bigger question is will Dune be another Arrival or another Blade Runner 2049? THAT is the big unknown.
I have no doubt in my mind that it will be exactly that, despite the fact that I thought very highly of the clever Arrival and loved the pictorially awesome Blade Runner 2049.
I have no doubt in my mind that it will be exactly that, despite the fact that I thought very highly of the clever Arrival and loved the pictorially awesome Blade Runner 2049.
Yup. Villeneuve movies tend to be too nerdy for the art crowd and too arty for the nerd crowd.
And DUNE presents a real problem, because there really isn't a hero. Even GAME OF THRONES, with its often morally gray characters, had pretty clear-cut good guys and bad guys. DUNE does not if you scratch below the surface even a little. If someone reaches the end of that book and doesn't think that Paul is a monster, he or she wasn't paying attention. That's a hard sell for big budget blockbusters. The last one to really pull that off was probably GODFATHER II.
Even if I do end up loving DUNE, I rather suspect I'll be in the minority.
Yup. Villeneuve movies tend to be too nerdy for the art crowd and too arty for the nerd crowd.
And DUNE presents a real problem, because there really isn't a hero. Even GAME OF THRONES, with its often morally gray characters, had pretty clear-cut good guys and bad guys. DUNE does not if you scratch below the surface even a little. If someone reaches the end of that book and doesn't think that Paul is a monster, he or she wasn't paying attention. That's a hard sell for big budget blockbusters. The last one to really pull that off was probably GODFATHER II.
Even if I do end up loving DUNE, I rather suspect I'll be in the minority.
A lot depends on where and how Villeneuve ends this first part. That's tough.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
