Last week, I stepped into a movie theater for the first time in over three years. My son Liam lured me out of Easton with an invitation to see Dune Part 2 at an IMAX theater in Silver Springs, MD, with his girlfriend Jess. Since COVID, I have shunned big crowds and happily stream Hollywood movies, watching them on my big-screen TV with my dog, Ella. But it was impossible to turn down an invite from my son.
We bond with our children in different ways. Liam and I bonded over superheroes and sci-fi movies. I was a big comic book kid. I constantly drew my favorite superheroes and got pretty good. As a parent, I learned that being able to draw Batman, Superman, or Thor, along with a few spaceships, was a sure way to impress a little boy.
One of our first father-son traditions was going to a comic book store in Bethesda weekly. In 5th grade, we discovered Liam had dyslexia and had trouble reading. He was not a fan of the special tutoring we arranged. However, he loved comics, which helped get him to read. It was basic bribery. We would only go to the comic book store if he did his homework. It was an expensive trip since the cheap comic book of my day had inflated into the $20 graphic novel—it was a small price to pay.
Our next father-son tradition began when comic book characters moved to the big screen. The first Marvel movie (Iron Man, 2008) hit theaters when Liam was 11. Whenever a new superhero or sci-fi film hit the theaters, I would pick him up at the school bus stop and head to the nearest theater. This increased as theaters were overwhelmed with superhero films and reboots of the Star Wars and Star Trek movie franchises.
I always encouraged Liam to read Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965). It’s a foundational sci-fi book. Star Wars creator George Lucus, Games of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, and many others borrowed generously from Dune. Liam never got around to it. Then girls, sports, college, work, and COVID got in the way, and our movie-viewing tradition ended—until last week.
My return to the movie theater was worth it. Dune Part 2 is a well-crafted sci-fi epic with a balance of action and humanity. It’s visually stunning and features excellent acting from the next generation of Hollywood movie stars, including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, and Florence Pugh, as well as accomplished older stars like Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, and Christopher Walken. The Director, Denis Villeneuve, is an accomplished filmmaker and screenwriter with a vision. He is known for films including Blade Runner 2049, Sicario, and Arrival, which earned him a Best Director Oscar nomination in 2016.
Villeneuve enticed us with Dune 1 (2021), a slower-moving set-up film designed to introduce the audience to the Dune universe. He delivered the goods in Dune Part 2. It’s Game of Thrones meets Lawrence of Arabia. The movie made $82M in its opening weekend, garnering a glowing 93% Rotten Tomato Review score and a 95% Audience Rating.
The movie is not a simple good versus evil story. Its so-called heroes are complex, and the villains are excellent. The film touches on adult and religious themes, including how outside forces can influence the masses, the need to be cautious of charismatic messiah figures, and the cult of personality that grows around them.
These are all relevant themes, considering the current political and personality landscape. And who doesn’t like a film featuring giant Sandworms? It’s also hard not to root for the Fremen, the indigenous, underdog desert people of Arrakis (aka Dune) in search of a savior. You know you have a hit movie when the audience applauds as the credits roll, and you see people dressed up as one of the characters. As I left the theater, I spotted a Bene Gesserit witch, a significant Dune character, walking behind me. Prepare yourself for Dune Part 3 and more after that.
The first Dune movie cost $165M. The pandemic and a dumb distribution strategy by Warner Bros hurt the theatrical box office. The studio released the film in theaters on the same day as its MAX streaming platform to juice subscription sign-ups. Why go to movies if people with MAX could watch it at home? It still earned a $434M.
Under new management, Warner Bros reinstituted an exclusive theatrical release window for Dune Part 2, followed by PPV streaming. The Dune Part 2 budget was $190M. It must earn $475M to make a profit. No problem. The film will eventually generate $2B+ worldwide and join the elite club. The marketing campaign for the film was massive, targeting the younger 18-24 demo, representing half the moviegoers. The movie’s young, attractive stars were sent everywhere to hype the film in TV ads, talk shows, industry events, and social media. Warner Bros. is counting on it to help turn around its sagging stock price.
These spectacle movies get a bad rap despite generating billions of dollars, employing thousands, and helping make movies our largest US export. Critics complain that the obsession with expensive franchises causes studios to abandon supporting smaller independent projects and limit the number of theaters available to show such films.
Even Disney CEO Bob Iger said that increased film output designed to feed more content to its streaming platform Disney+ was a mistake, resulting in too much supply and the release of inferior-quality films and red ink. Disney’s Marvel and Warner Bros DCEU studios released 2023 films that bombed. Warner Bros lost $200M on The Flash, and Marvel lost $70M on The Marvels, projected to make $600M, rare for this genre. Dune’s success is a shot in the arm for the genre. The debate about these big-budget franchise films’ artistic and economic value will rage on.
What I love about them is that my son and I have enjoyed experiencing them together for a long time. When he was very young, we tried to move objects with our minds like a Jedi and debated the best superpower to have. Today, we discuss script construction, casting, and the business of Hollywood and pick out the best lines from the latest movie. For Dune, it was “All Hail the Fighters!”
Liam turns 27 on Sunday. He reads a lot now, trains elite athletes to improve their performance, and is a mixed martial arts coach and fighter. He is my favorite superhero, although he drives me crazy.
It’s unclear when I will return to the movie theater. I am just getting over parking in an elevated garage and being mocked for taking a picture of a sign showing the floor we parked on, the large crowds, and a thunderous sound system. But there is hope.
My brother Rick told me he watched Dune Part 2 in a high-tech Manhattan movie theatre with the 4DX movie experience technology. It’s a multi-sensory environment with specialized rumble motion seats that swivel, shake, tilt, and slide, plus environmental effects synchronized to engage all your senses. Marketing copy describes the experience as, “Imagine feeling like you’re flying alongside Iron Man or getting splashed in the face by Aquaman.” That might get me out of Easton.
If Liam can’t go, my 8-month-old grandson, Zev, will begin his Jedi movie-watching tradition in a few years. I have several boxes of comic books for him, but I might need to wait until he walks before taking him to the movies.
Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.
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