Dune is off to the races to become one of the top box office movies this year. It has already grossed $35.8 million in international markets on its opening weekend.

Dune can truly be considered one of the most ambitious and anticipated sci-fi movies in years alongside fan favorites such as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Avengers: Endgame. With a staggering production budget of $165 million, Warner Bros has, undoubtedly, very high expectations of its box office results both domestically and internationally. After its extravagant Venice Film Festival debut, the film has finally been released to the masses, at least internationally.

The movie starring Timothée Chalamat, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, and directed by Denis Villeneuve generated $35.8 million in its opening weekend, according to Variety. In European countries like Russia, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany it has quickly become the movie with the best box office opening weekend in 2021, surpassing F9.

$35.8 million might not sound like the expected outcome, but considering the strict Covid-19 restrictions put on cinemas in countries like Germany, Italy, Spain, and France where theaters have restricted capacity orders, it is a very good result. Countries like Australia, Japan, Korea, and most of Southeast Asia have recently gone back to even more restrictive lockdown measures and have shut down some movie theaters altogether.

In the US, we are going to have to wait until October 22nd to watch Villeneuve’s epic science-fiction saga. As was expected it will be released simultaneously in theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max.