Dune tops North American box office with US$40.1m in ticket sales

Los Angeles

NEW sci-fi thriller Dune, a classic that almost demanded big-screen treatment, topped the North American box office over the weekend with a take estimated at US$40.1 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday (Oct 24).

That solid 3-day showing for Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the Frank Herbert opus came even as studio Warner Bros released the film simultaneously for small-screen streaming via HBO Max - an increasingly common pandemic-era practice.

With an all-star cast led by Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and Zendaya, the film tells the tale of a family in the distant future fighting for survival on a treacherous desert planet.

Dune, with a plainly relevant environmental subtext, has taken in US$180 million overseas.

Villeneuve, whose growing sci-fi catalogue includes Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival hopes to make this the first in a 2-part saga.

In distant second was last weekend's leader, Universal's horror flick Halloween Kills, at US$14.5 million.

A follow-on to 2018's Halloween, it again stars Jamie Lee Curtis, and the studio has said she will be back for another sequel next year.

Third place went to United Artists' latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, at US$11.9 million. Daniel Craig stars, supposedly for the final time, as 007, who is dragged out of retirement for one last assignment.

In fourth was Sony superhero film Venom: Let There Be Carnage, at US$9.1 million, in which Tom Hardy stars as a journalist whose symbiotic link to an alien gives him superpowers.

Fifth spot went to a new 20th Century release, computer-animated sci-fi comedy Ron's Gone Wrong at US$7.3 million.

Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms are among the voice actors telling the story of a socially awkward middle-schooler in the future who receives a defective but good-hearted robot as a present.

Rounding out the top 10 were: The Addams Family 2 (US$4.3 million); The Last Duel (US$2.1 million); Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (US$2 million); The French Dispatch (US$1.3 million); and Free Guy (US$258,000). AFP