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‘Dune: Part Three’ Pre-Sales Spark UK Box Office Frenzy as Vue Rushes To Add More Screenings

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Few films this year have generated the kind of ticket-buying chaos surrounding ‘Dune: Part Three’. The final chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy has been overwhelming ticketing platforms for months, with Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya leading a cast that also includes Jason Momoa, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem and Robert Pattinson. Pattinson joins the saga as Scytale, a key figure in the conspiracy against Paul.

The madness hit a new peak when general pre-sales went live worldwide on October 20. At London’s BFI IMAX, the virtual queue reached around 76,700, with more than 75,000 people ahead of one fan. One estimate suggested it would take 96 screenings to meet that demand, while the venue can physically fit only 5 per day because of the film’s runtime.

Now British exhibitors are scrambling to keep pace. As box office commentator Luiz Fernando highlighted on X, UK chain Vue announced it is adding more screenings in its EPIC Premium auditoriums due to overwhelming demand. The film debuts in the UK on December 18, with previews starting December 15.

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‘Dune: Part Three’ Is Already Outselling ‘The Odyssey’ as Presales Point to a Massive Opening

The extra screens reflect how quickly premium seats have vanished. Vue Manchester Printworks, one of only 3 UK venues showing the film in IMAX 70mm, saw a special early screening sell out in under 30 minutes. The other 2 are the BFI IMAX and The Ronson Theatre at the Science Museum, both in London.

That scarcity is part of the appeal. Only 40 venues worldwide are screening the film in IMAX 70mm, making those seats among the hottest tickets of the year. The BFI IMAX has already rewritten its own record books. The venue sold 33,000 advance tickets in just 24 hours, grossing more than £880,000 and setting a new first-day pre-sale record.

That total comfortably beat Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’, which previously held the record with £750,000. It also more than doubled ‘Dune: Part Two’, which generated £366,000 back in 2024, while ‘Oppenheimer’ reached approximately £254,000. The momentum had been building for a while. 3 opening-weekend screenings sold out in under an hour back in April, and 2 previews also sold out earlier this month.

British fans aren’t the only ones battling for seats. In the US, AMC’s app buckled when premium format tickets went live, with crashed apps, hour-long digital queues and resale listings appearing before lunch. On eBay, most IMAX 70mm tickets have been listed between $200 and $500, with some selling for even more.

Part of the draw lies in how the film was made. ‘Dune: Part Three’ features 71 minutes in IMAX’s exclusive 1.90:1 Expanded Aspect Ratio, filling giant screens from top to bottom. The pre-sale frenzy sets the stage for one of the biggest box office weekends in years.

‘Dune: Part Three’ opens on the same day as ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, and it reportedly holds IMAX exclusivity for 3 weeks. Early-access Dune Insider screenings begin December 14 in IMAX 70mm before expanding to digital IMAX the next day. Fans hoping to revisit the earlier chapters will have the chance, too. The BFI IMAX will screen both ‘Dune’ and ‘Dune: Part Two’ from December 11, ahead of the finale’s arrival.

With exhibitors racing to add showtimes weeks before release, Villeneuve’s conclusion looks poised to become a true cinematic event. If the UK pre-sales are any indication, Arrakis will be packing theaters well into the new year.

What are you most excited about when it comes to watching Dune: Part Three in theaters?

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