Dune 3 and Avengers: Doomsday could become box office rivals thanks to a new scheduling update. Doomsday is set to be the fifth installment in the superhero crossover franchise The Avengers and the 39th installment in the overarching Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the same way that 2018"s Avengers: Infinity War was paired with a direct continuation in 2019"s mega blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, Doomsday will be followed by Avengers: Secret Wars. However, while both movies were previously set for May releases in 2026 and 2027, they have both been delayed by months, to December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027, respectively.
This delay sees Doomsday now occupying the same weekend as the upcoming Dune 3. That movie is the third installment in the burgeoning franchise adapting the work of sci-fi novelist Frank Herbert, which kicked off in 2021. In addition to two theatrical movies starring Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, the franchise also includes the HBO series Dune: Prophecy, which has been renewed for season 2. While Warner Bros. will most likely shift the new movie"s release date to avoid competition with Avengers, the franchise might not have to be as scared to compete with Marvel as fellow blockbusters usually are.
Related 6 Reasons Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars Were Delayed News has dropped recently that Marvel Studios has delayed Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, with several factors explaining why.
Posts 2 Avengers: Doomsday Is Building Up To Be Marvel's Biggest Since No Way Home It's A Clear Box Office Juggernaut Close While the MCU has been suffering at the box office more often in recent years, the franchise still has the capacity to deliver huge hits, and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday seems set to be one of them. After the Infinity Saga (which comprises Phases 1 through 3) drew toward its conclusion with the record-shattering blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, which earned $2.799 billion and is the second higihest-grossing movie of all time worldwide, the franchise has had a wobbly start to its Multiverse Saga (which comprises Phases 4 through 6).
The Infinity Saga, which comprises Phases 1 through 3 of the MCU, technically ended with Spider-Man: Far From Home, which debuted after Endgame in 2019.
Because movies typically need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in order to break even in theaters, the huge budgets of Marvel movies have seen multiple recent installments turn out disappointing results, particularly 2023"s The Marvels, which reportedly lost more than $200 million. However, huge hits such as 2021"s Spider-Man: No Way Home and 2024"s Deadpool & Wolverine show that there is still potential for the franchise to capture a wide audience. Below, see a breakdown of the box office performance of every theatrical installment in the franchise since 2020:
Title
Reported Budget
Estimated Break-Even Point
Worldwide Box Office
Black Widow (2021)
$288.5 million
$721.2 million
$379.7 million
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
~$200 million
$500 million
$432.2 million
Eternals (2021)
$236.2 million
$590.5 million
$401.7 million
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
$200 million
$500 million
$1.921 billion
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
$350 million
$875 million
$952.2 million
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
$250 million
$625 million
$760.9 million
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
~$250 million
$625 million
$859.2 million
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
$330 million
$825 million
$476 million
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
$250 million
$625 million
$845.5 million
The Marvels (2023)
$307.3 million
$768.2 million
$199.7 million
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
$200 million
$500 million
$1.338 billion
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
$180 million
$450 million
$413.6 million
Thunderbolts* (2025)
$180 million
$450 million
$331.5 million (so far)
The success of Spider-Man: No Way Home (which united the multiversal variants of Spider-Man played by Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire) and Deadpool & Wolverine (which featured the long-awaited return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and was packed with cameos from non-MCU Marvel movies, including Chris Evans as the Human Torch, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, and Wesley Snipes as Blade) would seem to suggest that legacy characters are key to a modern Marvel hit.
The Avengers: Doomsday cast should very much satisfy this requirement, as it features the return of many actors from Fox"s original X-Men franchise reprising their roles (including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, and James Marsden) as well as Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. returning in a new role as the titular villain, Doctor Doom. Additionally, as the first Avengers movie since 2019, it could ignite nostalgia simply by being a part of that major crossover franchise and bring back audiences who have drifted away from the MCU as a whole.
Dune: Messiah Is A Perfect Spoiler For Marvel's Big Comeback Out With The Old, In With The New In spite of the major benefits that Avengers: Doomsday boasts, it has multiple demerits as well, including the franchise"s general box office downturn and the fact that returning directors Joe and Anthony Russo are fresh off a string of critical failures that includes The Electric State (14% on Rotten Tomatoes), The Gray Man (45%), and Cherry (37%). This could mean that the Dune franchise may have risen to the point where it can provide major competition for the MCU.
Dune 3 may be an underdog, but the franchise has become increasingly prominent in modern pop culture off the back of its critical and commercial success. Although 2021"s Dune only grossed $410.6 million against its reported $165 million budget, it was hampered by a day-and-date streaming release on HBO Max and 2024"s Part Two grossed a far superior $714.7 million against its reported $190 million, making it the seventh highest-grossing movie of the year. The movies are also both Certified Fresh on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and Verified Hot on the Popcornmeter. See a breakdown of their scores below:
Title
RT Critic Score
RT Audience Score
Dune (2021)
83%
90%
Dune: Part Two (2024)
92%
95%
While the upward trajectory of the Dune movies has not yet put them at the level of the Avengers franchise, they do seem to be on the rise while Marvel"s star is falling somewhat, at least when it comes to some of their subfranchises. This could show that the 2020s franchise is fresh enough to continue connecting with audiences in the same way that the MCU did back when it first kicked off in the late 2000s. Additionally, the sci-fi franchise boasts some of the most exciting up-and-coming actors in Hollywood.
This includes Chalamet (who is a major tabloid figure, has appeared in seven Best Picture nominees, and provides consistent hits for Warner Bros. between Dune and Wonka), Austin Butler (who was nominated for an Oscar for Elvis), Zendaya (who is the star of buzzy titles including Euphoria and Challengers), and Florence Pugh (an Oscar nominee who had a staggering rise after starring in 2019"s Midsommar). While Dune 3, which will adapt 1969"s Dune Messiah, may not feature the return of all of these stars, it could continue that trend by bringing in similar actors, helping boost its status even more.
This Is A Head-To-Head Battle That Nobody Wins Except, Of Course, The Audience Ultimately, even though both movies would most likely be successful no matter what movies they are competing with during their opening weekends, it simply does not make sense for Avengers: Doomsday and Dune 3 to be put into theaters on the same weekend. As major science fiction blockbusters that are likely to be rated PG-13, they are both courting the same demographic, so they would be flooding the marketplace unnecessarily, competing for space in theaters and especially on IMAX and other Premium Large Format screens.
A weekend featuring both Dune and Avengers [would not have the same appeal as Barbenheimer.]
Matchups of major movies have seen both thrive in the past, as was the case in 2023 when Barbie and Oppenheimer debuted simultaneously on the massively successful Barbenheimer weekend. However, both movies performed so well because their different genres and tones both made for an appealingly unusual double feature while also drawing in large numbers of viewers who were only interested in one or the other due to their good reviews and word of mouth. This would not be the case for a weekend featuring both Dune and Avengers.
While the studios will almost certainly make sure that both movies are not directly competing, having them both come out on the same weekend would nevertheless provide an exciting December for audiences. Not only would it make for a blockbuster double feature that could help revive theaters in a time full of economic ups and downs, it could result in an astoundingly robust press tour that may even feature some overlap. While Dune has not yet been cast, it is set to feature Doomsday"s Florence Pugh, who will reprise her Part Two role as Princess Irulan in Dune 3.
In Avengers: Doomsday, Florence Pugh is set to reprise the role of Yelena Belova, which she originated in Black Widow and reprised in Hawkeye and Thunderbolts*.
Additionally, Avengers: Doomsday"s cast features many of the modern era"s biggest stars, so it is probable that Villeneuve will pull from that same pool when casting Dune 3. He has already done so with the previous installments, which have featured the MCU actors Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Stellan Skarsgård (Thor), and Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight). Even with the competition for screens on their opening weekend, the overall runs of both movies could be propelled in a major way by a simultaneous debut thanks to this overlap in cultural position and cast.
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Like Follow Followed Avengers: Doomsday Superhero Adventure Action Sci-Fi Release Date December 18, 2026 Director Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Writers Stephen McFeely, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee Cast See All Chris Hemsworth Thor Vanessa Kirby Sue Storm / Invisible Woman Joseph Quinn Johnny Storm / Human Torch Ebon Moss-Bachrach Ben Grimm / The Thing Avengers: Doomsday is the fifth Avengers film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will bring together heroes, new and old, to face off against Victor von Doom - played by the returning Robert Downey Jr.. Avengers 5 will also mark the beginning of phase 6 of the MCU.
Powered by Expand Collapse Like Follow Followed Dune: Part Three Science Fiction Adventure Release Date December 18, 2026 Director Denis Villeneuve Writers Jon Spaihts Producers John Harrison, Mary Parent, Richard P. Rubinstein, Thomas Tull, Tanya Lapointe Prequel(s) Dune, Dune: Part Two Franchise(s) Dune Cast See All Timothée Chalamet Paul Atreides Zendaya Alia Atreides Dune: Part Three continues the epic saga, adapting Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah. It follows Paul Atreides as he navigates political intrigue and prophecy, consolidating power in a universe shaped by spice, religion, and betrayal. This entry deepens the exploration of power dynamics and the complexities of leadership in a vast interstellar empire.
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