A few years ago cinephiles were blessed with Barbenheimer, the event where both Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer were released over the same weekend. Both titles ended up being wildly successful, with Greta Gerwig's movie piercing the pop culture landscape and the latter title being one of Nolan's best movies. We've got another duel release coming with Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday, and it turns out that Robert Downey Jr. and Timothée Chalamet came up with an A+ name for this theatrical event.
What we know about Avengers: Doomsday is limited, but the Russo Brothers' upcoming Marvel movie might have some competition thanks to the third Dune film. There doesn't seem to be any hard feelings between the stars of the film, as a viral TikTok showed RDJ at a Marty Supreme screening, revealing the nickname he and Chalamet came up with. As he put it:
I just want to let it be known that we’ve decided, because well, you want to hit them with it? He’s got the right name. But, we both have films opening on December 18, and we’ve decided to coin it…We’re thinking Dunesday. You like it? We’ll see if we’re still friends by then.
I'm sorry, but Dunesday is pretty brilliant. It's only a slight deviation from the title of the next Avengers movie, and rolls off the tongue easily. By comparison, Barbenheimer was much more of a mouthful, although it was fun considering just how different the two movies were.
There's not much we know about Dune: Part Three, although the book-to-screen adaptation is expected to bring the book Messiah to life. Fans are eager to see how the story continues after Dune 2's ending, which saw Paul Atreides create a hostile takeover and start the Holy War that his visions predicted. It should be interesting to see him take this villainous turn, as well as how Zendaya's Chani factors into the story.
It should be fascinating to see how Dunesday plays out at the box office. Marvel movies are no longer guaranteed to break box office records, just look at how The Marvels flopped. And while Barbenheimer featured two very different projects, these two titles are both action-packed and part of powerful IPs. So they have the potential to compete more at the box office.
In his comments, Robert Downey Jr. joked about the competition ending his friendship with Chalamet. But it seems like there's no hard feelings, and they're hoping that there's enough room (and money) for both Doomsday and Dune 3 to perform.
All will be revealed when Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three hit theaters on December 18th as part of the 2026 movie release list. We'll just have to see how Dunesday ultimately competes at the box office.
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