‘Dune: Part Two’ Becomes Available to Stream at Home April 2; When Will it Arrive on Max?
WBD CEO David Zaslav has promised the movie will arrive on Max this spring, but starting April 2 it will arrive for purchase on Prime Video and other platforms.
Have you made the trek to theaters to see “Dune: Part Two” yet? The film has become a certified hit, pulling in over $600 million at the global box office so far and helping Warner Bros. Discovery start off its 2024 theatrical slate with a bang. This week, WhentoStream.com reported on X (the social media site formerly known as Twitter) that “Dune: Part Two” would not be a theatrical exclusive much longer, as the film is heading to premium video-on-demand (PVOD) platforms like Prime Video starting on Tuesday, April 2.
- Viewers will be able to purchase “Dune: Part Two” from providers like Apple, Amazon, Google and others.
- The film will retail for $29.99 if viewers decide to purchase it for at-home viewing now.
- WBD CEO David Zaslav was quoted as saying “Dune: Part Two” will stream on Max this spring, but when?
DUNE: PART TWO (2024)
— WhenToStream.com (@WhenToStream) March 31, 2024
Streaming: April 2, 2024
PVOD (Apple, Amazon, Google, etc.)#DunePartTwo
Added to our streaming calendar: https://t.co/NajEYSbmWx
All of the usual suspects will be carrying “Dune: Part Two” when it becomes available to stream from home for the first time this week. Prime Video already has a page set up for the film, which will retail for $29.99. There’s no price difference for customers whether they decide to purchase the movie in Standard Definition, High Definition, or Ultra-High-Definition 4K. Customers will also find the film available to buy through Apple and Google’s digital stores, and on other PVOD services.
Premium video-on-demand platforms like Prime Video have become an important part of theatrical windowing formulas for studios. Even movies that only pull in a fraction of their production and advertising budgets with theatrical releases can become profitable with lengthy PVOD windows, which explains why studios release movies to premium purchase and rental sites relatively soon after they debut in theaters.
“Dune: Part Two” is arriving in digital stores just 32 days after its initial release. With more than $600 million in gross receipts so far, the movie has already made back its production budget of $190 million and likely has made good on its advertising outlay as well. The timing of its release on PVOD services is likely intended to capitalize on the fact that the movie is still performing well in theaters, and thus at the forefront of the minds of viewers who have been waiting for a chance to enjoy its nearly three-hour runtime from the comforts of home. A recent survey found that 66% of American audiences prefer streaming a movie from home as opposed to seeing it in a theater.
When Will ‘Dune: Part Two’ Stream on Max?
When the film was first released in cinemas on March 1, The Streamable predicted that it would not arrive on WBD’s on-demand streaming service Max until Monday, July 29. Our reasoning behind this prediction was that the film would likely see box-office and critical success similar to that of “Barbie,” another movie distributed by Warner Bros; “Barbie” did not arrive on Max until 148 days after its initial release in theaters in 2023.
But WBD CEO David Zaslav told analysts when reporting his company’s fourth quarter 2023 earnings that “Dune: Part Two” would be arriving on Max “this spring.” That would seem to preclude The Streamable’s July prediction, but when can fans expect the new “Dune” to stream with a Max subscription?
Once again, the release of “Barbie” on Max can at least offer some clues. Zaslav pledged in 2023 that “Barbie” would hit Max in the fall of 2023, using a season instead of a month or day to give himself some wiggle room, just as he has done in the case of “Dune: Part Two.” Technically, “Barbie” did arrive on Max in the fall; the movie became available on Max on Dec. 15, a few days before the official start of winter. The film’s Max release came almost exactly three months after its PVOD premiere in mid-September.
If “Dune: Part Two” follows a similar trajectory, it would become available on Max sometime in the second or third week of June. Assuming WBD wants to release the film to streaming on a Friday to take advantage of weekend viewing, we predict “Dune: Part Two” will stream on Max on Friday, June 14, the last Friday before this year’s summer solstice on June 20. This will allow WBD to keep Zaslav’s promise of releasing the movie in spring, and let the company make as much revenue off the film on PVOD platforms as possible.
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