Box Office Results: Kung-Fu Panda and Dune Lead Busy Weekend

Dune has had its fair share of adaptation attempts. Denis Villeneuve and David Lynch brought Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel to the big screen in 2021 and 1984, respectively, while Ridley Scott and Alejandro Jodorowsky also made their own efforts that never came to fruition. 

In 1974, my aunt and uncle returned to the United States from a honeymoon world tour. Over the course of their travels, they ventured through India, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey, before winding up in Israel, where my aunt’s sister — my mother — had recently lived for two years on a collective kibbutz.

In a repeat from last weekend, the animated adventure Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two led the box office, per Deadline. Both movies maintained their strong performance, with Panda experiencing only a 48% decline, accumulating $30 million in its second weekend and reaching a domestic total of $107.7 million. Meanwhile, Dune saw a 37% drop, earning $29.1 million in its third weekend and bringing its domestic total to $205.3 million.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies can seem like a rebuke to Hollywood’s quip era. They are as far as you can get from the Marvel rule that no situation is so grave, no stakes so high that they can’t be punctuated by a smart, self-aware gag. These are solemn, earnest movies, modeled on classical cinematic epics like Lawrence of Arabia and intent on delivering the bizarre visions of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi books in as straight-faced a manner as possible.

Visually, looks like it's set in the world of Denis Villeneuve's movie adaptations, with the studio behind these films, Legendary, having shared assets with the development team at Funcom, as well as inviting them on set. Despite this, the game's story has made at least one massive change from the book and the movies that could have major consequences going forward.

Denis Villeneuve’s planned trilogy of Dune movies is unmistakably focused on telling the story of Paul Atreides, as played by Timothée Chalamet. But just because it’s Paul’s story doesn’t mean he’s the main character of all of the movies. In fact, one of the cleverest, most effective methods Villeneuve uses to show us Paul’s journey in Dune: Part Two is by subtly shifting the Freman warrior Chani (Zendaya) from her initial role as narrator and love interest into the movie’s main character. And Zendaya is one of the few actors who could actually pull that off.

The creators of longtime survival MMO Conan Exiles – Funcom – have just shown off the upcoming Dune: Awakening, so it’s time for us to delve into some release date speculation, as well as taking a look at the pre-order situation, gameplay details and a trailer to cap it all off.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two film wormed its way through theaters over the weekend, and if you’ve still got sand in the brain, there’s plenty more where that came from. Namely, Funcom shared a closer look at the upcoming Dune: Awakening survival game, which is in the works for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Denis Villeneuve’smovie adaptations of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel, Dune, has become a cultural and commercial hit. That’s big for Team Hollywood, but I still have a hard time believing that Dune has done more for movies than it has for video games — so long as you ignore the kerfuffle over whether it influenced Star Wars.

As promised last week, Funcom has released a new stunning trailer for Dune Awakening while also talking about the making of the survival MMO in a separate feature as part of their Direct-like showcase. Chief Creative Officer Joel Bylos discussed the game's basics and the back-and-forth with Legendary, who allowed them to go on the set of the first movie and even borrow assets:

Following the early box office success of , as well as its critically acclaim, many are wondering whether or not Dune 3 is in the pipeline.

Denis Villeneuve's Dune 2 has taken the world by storm, and one cosplayer decided to celebrate the film’s release in the most unique way possible.