A couple of years ago, it was Barbenheimer. Two diametrically opposed movies becoming a “thing” in synergy that pushed them both, Barbie and Oppenheimer, to crazy heights at the box office. Later this year, we will have something that many are thinking may be a repeat – Dunesday. On December 18th 2026, both Dune Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday land at the same time.
There is, potentially, a problem here. Barbie and Oppenheimer couldn’t have been further apart when it comes to intended audience. Avengers: Doomsday may be lighter superhero fare compared to the heavier, adult-oriented sci-fi of Dune Part Three, but let us not kid ourselves here.
The MCU is built on the backs of nearly 20 years of movies, and these were largely funded to success by people like us, Outposters, geeks, and comic book nerds who ate it all up. In order for Doomsday to be a big success, we need to turn out.
Almost twenty years later, we are now also squarely in the target market crosshairs for Dune.
This is going to be about six hours’ worth of runtime, excluding ads and trailers. We are old now, our bladders are weak. Plus, there is a cost-of-living crisis underway that is only getting worse the longer the Straits of Hormuz remain closed. Are 2x $15 movie theater tickets that high up anybody’s list of essentials?
We are not alone in pointing this out. Exhibitors now say that they are concerned that the two movies may not support each other, but will actually cannibalise each other.
A new article in The Hollywood Reporter also says that they are worried about the knock-on effect on everyone else. These two are going to head-to-head in theaters in December, right on top of Christmas, and could basically dominate every theater-going habit for weeks and make everything else just fall by the wayside. As one said:
“It will be especially bad for specialty distributors because everybody’s going to free up every screen they have for those two films.”
An Angry Birds sequel, Werewulf, and the third Jumanji are all released around the same time, along with another Ice Age.
Will they negatively impact each other? Will others run scared and now bug out of Christmas altogether?
