‘Dune 3’ and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ in Stand-Off Over Same Release Date: “Somebody’s Gotta Move”

Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text The biggest fantasy hero battle in Hollywood is shaping up over a release date: Dec. 18. While Warner Bros.’ and Legendary’s Dune: Part Three and Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday have officially claimed the same release date for months, this week’s drop of th e Dune movie’s poster publicly declaring the Dec. 18 date seemed to solidify the stand-off as actually happening. Which means that at a time when theaters are starving to fill seats, two of the year’s most anticipated films — perhaps the most anticipated — are set to arrive on the exact same day. Related Stories Movies Rebecca Ferguson Only Has One Scene in 'Dune 3,' Admits to Having "a Lot of FOMO" Movies 'Dune 3' Is "a Thriller," Says Denis Villeneuve as He Launches First Trailer With Zendaya and Robert Pattinson by His Side “Someone’s gotta move,” groaned a representative for one theater chain. “That’s a level of overwhelm that doesn’t make sense. Especially after the last few years [of theaters struggling]. An Avengers movie and Dune 3 are both sure things.” Unlike when the gleefully mismatched Barbie and Oppenheimer famously faced off in July 2023 to create the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, these two epic fantasy franchise sequels have plenty of broad-appeal, male-skewing audience overlap. 2024’s Dune: Part Two skewed heavily male on its opening weekend at 68 percent, with many tickets buyers well over the age of 25. 2019’s Avengers: Doomsday , conversely, only saw a gender split of 60 percent male and 40 percent female with Millennials and Gen Zers making up the majority of the audience. The issue isn’t just a matter of two massive films potentially selling fewer tickets overall because of the presence of the other. (Big fans of both franchises will probably see both...