In 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer ranked among the year's biggest box office hits, despite opening on the same weekend. "Barbenheimer" was a one-of-a-kind phenomenon that many film fans hope will be recreated this December with the simultaneous release of Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three.
Fans on social media have dubbed December 18 "Dunesday," though it hasn't had the same cultural reach as "Barbenheimer" (not yet, at least).
Dune: Part Three will play exclusively on IMAX screens, forcing Disney to launch "Infinity Vision," a moniker for Premium Format screens of a certain quality. However, pundits currently believe that, regardless of screen size, Avengers: Doomsday will rule the box office.
Lending weight to that is a recent post from @CinXperience, which reveals that The Hollywood Reporter's recent piece on when Avengers: Doomsday tickets go on sale—Monday, July 20—drew nearly three times as much Google Search interest as the recent Dune: Part Three trailer.
What, if anything, does this really mean? While it's certainly an indication of fan interest, this doesn't feel like an entirely fair comparison without seeing how much impact Dune: Part Three's trailer had on social media platforms, for example.
As much hype as there is for the Dune finale, it is more of a niche property than the Avengers franchise. Still, Dune made $410 million at the box office in 2021 (COVID was a factor), and the sequel grossed $714 million three years later.
Marvel Studios has faced its fair share of box office struggles during the Multiverse Saga, but the Avengers franchise has long been a safe bet. An Avengers movie has never made less than $1 billion, while 2019's Avengers: Endgame was the highest-grossing movie ever for a time, with just shy of $2.8 billion worldwide.
Dune: Part Three will hurt Avengers: Doomsday's opening weekend, but when it comes to which movie will "win," does it really matter when audiences have two massive blockbusters to look forward to over the holidays?
Jumanji: Open World, which opens a week after the two movies, is expected to be the big loser, marking another blow to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson after a bad run of box office flops.
As noted, Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three will both be released on December 18. Which of them will you be checking out on opening day?