Dune: Part Three Smashes The Odyssey’s Presale Record at London’s BFI IMAX

Dune: Part Three sold 33,000 advance tickets in 24 hours at London’s BFI IMAX, the UK’s largest screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That broke the first-day presale record held by Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

The sales grossed more than £880,000 (about $1.2 million). The Odyssey took £750,000 and Dune: Part Two took £366,000, per the BFI’s ranking. The BFI is showing the film on a 70mm IMAX print, with previews starting Tuesday, December 15.

The release was already sold out in places. Three opening-weekend screenings at the BFI sold out in under an hour in April, and two previews sold out earlier this month. The BFI will also screen Dune and Dune: Part Two from December 11.

Villeneuve’s final Dune film opens in the US on December 18. Comic Basics reports that tracking points to a global opening above $200 million. The Odyssey became the highest-grossing IMAX release ever, and analysts expect some of that demand to carry over.

The BFI IMAX Leaderboard

The BFI announced the figures on October 21, one day after tickets went on sale. The venue’s ranking of biggest first-day presales places Dune: Part Three first at about £880,000 and The Odyssey second at £750,000. Dune: Part Two is third at £366,000, followed by Oppenheimer at £254,000 and Avatar: Fire and Ash at £116,000, according to a report by Netzwelt.

The gap between first and third is notable. Koimoi points out that the 2024 sequel’s first-day presales at the same venue came to less than half of what the finale collected. The new film has also moved well past two of the biggest recent event releases in the cinema’s records, Oppenheimer and Avatar: Fire and Ash.

What the Figures Do and Do Not Mean

Context matters when reading the number. Pixel Twelve notes that all 33,000 tickets belong to a single venue, the large single-screen cinema on London’s South Bank, and that the £880,000 is presale revenue rather than box office, since the film has not yet opened. The sales cover advance screenings, including preview dates ahead of the main December 18 release, and the venue’s initial December 15 previews sold out.

That means the record is a measure of demand among the most committed large-format audience, not a forecast of the film’s worldwide gross. It does show how many viewers wanted a specific IMAX 70mm presentation months before release.

Months of Demand for 70mm IMAX

Interest in the format has been building for a long time. Dark Horizons reports that Warner Bros. released an initial batch of opening-weekend IMAX 70mm tickets in July last year and another in April this year, a pattern that mirrors the early sales for The Odyssey, whose 70mm IMAX tickets went on sale a full year before its release. Select 70mm IMAX screenings sold out months in advance and quickly appeared on resale platforms at heavily marked-up prices, according to Tribune. Slate described the scramble for tickets to Dune: Part Three and The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm as a new reality for moviegoers.

Comic Basics reports that the cinema chain Vue has added more premium screenings in the UK to keep up with demand, which suggests the interest is not limited to a single London venue.

The Story Behind the Finale

The film adapts Dune Messiah as the conclusion to Villeneuve’s trilogy, according to Pixel Twelve, and is set nearly two decades after Paul Atreides seized control of the Imperium, per Bleeding Cool. Timothée Chalamet returns in the lead role. Warner Bros. has also begun ramping up its marketing, releasing a new TV spot and four posters alongside the on-sale date, according to Bleeding Cool.

Looking Ahead to December

The BFI will present Dune: Part Two in IMAX 70mm when the earlier films return from December 11, giving audiences a chance to revisit the saga before the finale arrives. Preview screenings of the new film begin on December 15, three days before the US release. With domestic presale numbers still arriving, the next comparison will come when wider advance sales can be measured across markets.