Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune had a great opening weekend in both theaters and streaming on HBO Max. The movie was released on the streaming service the same day it hit theaters to a large audience, making it the top title for engagement of all day-and date releases of 2021, according to data from Reelgood.
Dune starring Timothee Chalamet had 12.0% streaming and engagement share, up more than 2 points from the next most popular release The Suicide Squad which opened August 8 with 9.4% engagement. HBO Max also holds the third and fourth spots with Mortal Kombat and Godzilla vs. Kong, while Disney+ ad 7.5% engagement with the release of Black Widow in July.
Other streamers to make the ranks with day-and-date releases including Hulu with Nomadland and Peacock’s recent release of Halloween Kills.
Dune‘s production budget of $164 million paid off as the film opened with $40 million at the box office, which is good for pandemic era releases. It’s now Warner Bros. highest grossing release during Covid, beating out Godzilla vs. Kong’‘s $31million.
Production has already received the greenlight for Dune Part II, with an exclusive theatrical release set for 2023, meaning no HBO Max day-and-date streaming release.