Why Dune Beat Zack Snyder’s Justice League On HBO Max

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Sep 18, 2021
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Here is why Denis Villeneuve's Dune beat Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max. The sci-fi epic based on Frank Herbert's 1965 novel of the same name released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, garnering largely positive results from the opening weekend. It's one of many Warner Bros. films that have released on the streaming service in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opening weekend numbers show that the new film topped Zack Snyder's Justice League viewership with 1.9 million US households watching Dune just on HBO Max. This beat the Snyder Cut's 1.8 million weekend debut, an especially significant victory considering Dune split its audience somewhat by simultaneously premiering in theaters, whereas the superhero re-release was exclusive to streaming. Dune won't be the number one release Warner Bros. sees in 2021—that accolade currently belongs to James Gunn's The Suicide Squad—but the film certainly put up solid numbers that could have huge implications for the franchise.

Dune's relative success on HBO Max is largely due to the name recognition of both Herbert's iconic sci-fi novel and the film's director, with Villeneuve's repertoire including Oscar-nominees Arrival, Sicario and Incendies. Warner Bros. also did a good job building hype for the movie after its initial release was delayed a year. The strong numbers are of great significance to the franchise since Dune's streaming performance is arguably more important than its box office numbers where a potential sequel is concerned.

Despite its quintessential status amongst sci-fi readers, Frank Herbert's Dune novel has largely been considered unadaptable for the screen. This opinion was reinforced by David Lynch's 1984 movie of the same name which was met with a disastrous reception and has gained a reputation as one of the most iconic book adaptation flops. Dune is believed to be the best selling science fiction novel of all time, so another attempt to bring the story to the big-screen instills a natural curiosity in a rather large fanbase. Audiences wondered if Villeneuve's Dune could improve on Blade Runner 2049 as well as previous attempts to adapt the original novel, whose poor reputations ironically combined to bolster the new film's success.

Warner Bros. also did a far better job marketing Dune than their other 2021 releases including Zack Snyder's Justice League. Even before the premiere was delayed in 2020, Dune had gained the status of a must-see film, an emblematic sci-fi epic featuring a stacked cast of popular Hollywood faces including Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Josh Brolin. The delay created even more time for WB to construct this stature and for anticipation to build. By comparison, other 2021 WB movies like In The Heights and Cry Macho didn't receive nearly as much attention or hype. With the Snyder Cut, the studio also had the challenge of promoting a film as a reconstruction of something that had already flopped. Villeneuve's Dune movie was able to construct and maintain status as one of the most anticipated movies of the year, and the numbers show it.

Dune 2021's success both on HBO Max and in the box office is hugely significant to the series because Warner Bros. had not agreed to a sequel for the two-part adaptation. With such a reputation of uncertainty surrounding the adaption, it's no surprise that they were apprehensive about guaranteeing another high-budget investment before seeing the results of the first film. Thankfully, the movie's ability to outperform other studio projects including Zack Snyder's Justice League has resulted in the WB officially green-lighting the Dune sequel.