Avengers Vs. Dune Vs. Jumanji

[Mike Blakesley]

In today's news about studio scheduling stupidity, I noticed that Dune 3, Avengers Doomsday are coming out on Dec. 18; and the new Jumanji comes out exactliy one week after the other two, on Christmas Day.

This is madness. They're all after largely the same audience...especially Dune and Avengers. And you KNOW that all three of them are going to want those PLF screens.

I feel like somebody is going to blink, but who?

And which one should we play, over here in single-screen land?

[Marcel Birgelen]

Avengers v.s. Dune v.s. Jumanji sounds like one heck of a franchise cross-over, the only thing I really miss in there is Star Wars... I'd pay for an end-battle where Jar Jar Binks meets Vladimir Harkonnen in an R-rated spectacle.

You know your audience the best obviously, but if you'd ask me the question, then I'd put my bet onto Dune. It's easily the most anticipated movie of the year. Most people I speak to aren't even aware there will be yet another Avengers movie coming to cinema. Most of them thought that Endgame would actually mean something... And compared to the Avengers and Dune, Jumanji really stands no chance at all if you ask me.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I was only aware of Dune. Until I saw all three of those previews ahead of Spider-Man.

i feel like Dune is the lock on slightly older audiences, Jumanji on the younger side, and Avengers right down the middle (but the least interesting of the 3).

[Chris Haller]

This is madness. They're all after largely the same audience...especially Dune and Avengers. And you KNOW that all three of them are going to want those PLF screens.

I feel like somebody is going to blink, but who?

And which one should we play, over here in single-screen land?

They've already split PLFs up. IMAX goes to Dune, and Screen X goes to Doomsday, just like with Spider-man. At our theater our standard atmos equipped PLF will be going to Dune, which Spider-man has this time around. No one is blinking. They're hoping people see both.

I'd probably go with Avengers for a single screen. More broad appeal and the Marvel stuff is going to be pretty big coming off of Spider-man.

[Mike Blakesley]

You know your audience the best obviously,

Well I just looked up the grosses. Avengers Endgame was far and away the best grosser of the previous installments of these three movies. Of course there are a few qualifiers.

Avengers came out in 2019, just before Covid came in an ruined everything.

Jumanji came out in late 2020 (when everything had been ruined) and managed to do a little less than half of what Avengers did.

BUT....we didn't play it until it was a couple of weeks old. (It was scheduled against Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that time.) And it still did very well in those bleak Covid days. We have played all three of the Jumanji movies off the break due to the dopey scheduling, and they've still all done decent business. The most recent one was the best grosser of the bunch.

Dune...was dead last. It did about one-third the business that Avengers did, And we played both of the previous Dune movies on the break. The last Jumanji movie did more business in one week than Dune did in two.

All that said, I do have to admit, I'm not feeling/hearing anywhere near the kind of buzz on Avengers that I am for Dune. That could be because there are already trailers running for Dune, where Avengers has only had a couple of fairly unexciting teasers and some cryptic posters.

Over the top of all this, you have to add in the general "fed up with it" attitude that is pervading Disney's Marvel movies lately, where Endgame came out at the peak of Marvel fever, which has undoubtedly cooled. Spider-Man is definitely an anamoly in this...we were 100% sold out last night on the opening.

I thought it was just age that was making my hair turn gray, but I think it's probably stuff like this.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Yeah, your mileage may vary.and you quickly fall into the trap of looking at this from your own perspective. But like you indicated, the world has changed. To be honest, I've not really anticipated any Marvel movie since the latest and supposedly last Avengers movie and I've skipped almost all of them in the cinema, with a few exceptions. So did the wife, who once used to be a big Marvel fan.

With the exception of a few blips like Deadpool & Wolverine, most Marvel movies since Endgame have been relative letdowns or outright box office bombs. What I remember back from Dune 2 is that it was a bit of a slow burner, at least over here. It apparently took a while before people realized that it was really a pretty good movie and something you had to see in theaters. As a result, it made almost twice as much as the first Dune movie. Combined with the cliffhanger ending, I think that will motivate a lot of people to go see the presumably last one in the series. The buzz around the trailer releases also seems to indicate there is some real anticipation here. But my view is obviously biased.

The last Jumanji movie did a cool $800M worldwide in 2019, but that was pre-pandemic. I still don't understand how a mediocre movie like that could make so much money, but in that same year, Endgame grossed a $2.7B worldwide... Still, I have the feeling the next one will just be one big almost-direct-to-streaming bomb. I guess the negative buzz around Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson also does't really help the franchise, but we'll see...

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm looking forward to Dune: Part III. I've certainly enjoyed these new Dune movies a lot more than the campy 1980's version. I'm currently on vacation (not posting anything about it on social media); anyway I watched The Odyssey Monday afternoon at the Cinemark Carefree Circle IMAX theater. The 15/70 show played without any problems. The only items on the front of the feature were an IMAX policy snipe and a 15/70 "trailer" for Dune: Part III. It's the shortest pre-show I've seen in a long time. The trailer was really just an action set piece from the movie. The scene was pretty amazing. Kind of like Star Wars meets Saving Private Ryan. I'll probably have to come back to Colorado Springs for Christmas just to see it in 15/70. And order tickets for it weeks in advance.

BTW, I hope Avengers: Doomsday turns out to be a great movie, but I have a somewhat uneasy vibe about it.

[Ian Puffenberger]

I think there's more overlap between Avengers and Jumanji than Dune. The latter is going after older audiences and sci-fi nerds--as a proud sci-fi and fantasy nerd I make no apology for using the term--while the former two are chasing more after families with Avengers probably being the biggest general/casual audience play. Dune seems likely to do poorly in longer-term playability due to (trying to put it as vaguely as I can for those unfamiliar with the book) an ending that will be divisive if not outright disliked.

[Bobby Henderson]

After watching a trailer for the Jumanji sequel (on the front of Spiderman: Brand New Day) I absolutely do not expect that sequel to be able to knock either Dune Part III or Avengers: Doomsday off any premium style screens.