Denis Villeneuve says he’s ‘disappointed’ Dune 2 is still the biggest film of 2024

‘I hope soon that there will be other successes at the box office,’ director said

Director Denis Villeneuve has said he is “disappointed” Dune: Part 2 is still the year’s biggest film.

The filmmaker, whose credits include Prisoners, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, released the follow-up to 2021’s Dune back in February, and it became a blockbuster hit.

After sell-out showings in IMAX screens around the world, the lengthy epic amassed global takings of $711.8m (£558.8m), firmly positioning it as the most successful release of the year so far.

Dune: Part 2 has retained that title despite what was believed to be fierce competition in the form of Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt action comedy The Fall Guy and Furiosa, George Miller’s prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road.

However, both those films have faltered at the box office, with the former, which was estimated to have cost $150m (£117.7m), failing to break even before being made available to download at home. Meanwhile, many were left flummoxed by Furiosa’s poor opening weekend figures.

The films rounding out the top five behind Dune: Part 2 have not come close to toppling the film, with second-placed film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire amassing global takings of $567m (£445m) and Kung Fu Panda 4, in third placed, making $539m (£423m).

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is in fourth position, with $309m (£242.6m), while fifth-placed film Ghostbusters has made $200.6m (£157.5m).

When accumulated, the US box office takings of May 2024 was the lowest mark since 1999 – not including when cinemas shut down due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

‘Dune” Part 2’ is still the biggest film of the year four months after release (Warner Bros Pictures)

Villeneuve has humbly reflected on what has been a disappointing year at the box office while accepting the Academy Icon Award at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto on Friday (31 May).

“I’m disappointed to still be number one,” he told the crowd, adding: “I hope soon that there will be other successes at the box office. I hope, sooner or later, that this summer box office will be much better.”

The next films hoping to set the box office alight will be Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (5 June), reuniting Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, Deadpool & Wolverine (26 July), which will introduce Ryan Reynolds’s anti-hero to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and M Night Shyamalan’s original thriller Trap (9 August).

M Night Shayamalan’s ‘Trap, starring Josh Hartnett, is expected to do big box office business (Universal Pictures)

On 14 June, Pixar will also be releasing Inside Out 2. The original film, released in 2015, was a critical and commercial hit, making $858.8m at the box office and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.