London's BFI IMAX Sells 33,000 Dune: Part Three Tickets in a Day
The BFI IMAX in London has sold 33,000 advance tickets for Dune: Part Three in 24 hours, breaking the first-day presale record set by Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Presales, meaning tickets bought before a film opens, brought in £880,000 (about $1.2 million) for the new film. The Odyssey took £750,000 (about $1 million) in its own presales at the same cinema.
The BFI IMAX sits on the South Bank in London and calls itself the UK's largest screen. The British Film Institute, the country's national film body, is showing Dune: Part Three on a pristine IMAX 70mm print, a large-format film copy shot and projected on a huge scale. Three opening-weekend screenings sold out in under an hour, and two previews sold out earlier in the month.
The earlier Dune film did not come close. Dune: Part Two took £366,000 in presales at the same cinema, less than half of The Odyssey's total and third place behind the two newer films.
The Odyssey set its own benchmark in July. The BFI IMAX recorded its best-ever opening weekend at the box office, taking £219,867 (about $296,147) from 17 to 19 July on that one screen.
The film opens in cinemas and IMAX theatres on 18 December, and IMAX's US Facebook page confirmed that date in August. The BFI IMAX has listed a preview from 15 December. Its listing for a 10am screening on 17 December is marked sold out, and the cinema offers £2.50 off tickets for the buyer and their guests on that show. The cinema's homepage still carries a "Book now" button for the film.
The interest is not limited to London. IMAX Melbourne said earlier this month that it had sold 25,000 tickets in 24 hours for the film on IMAX 70mm, with seats still available through the Sunday of its post. In April, Deadline reported that several IMAX 70mm shows had sold out within 12 hours of presales opening.
For a general audience, the pattern is simple. Big-screen film prints, once a rarity, now draw crowds that sell out cinemas months ahead. The cinema counts the tickets, and the studio and the cinema decide which shows to add next.
