So we’re just manifesting box office phenomena now. That’s where we’re at.
Robert Downey Jr. and Timothée Chalamet showed up together at an LA screening of Chalamet’s A24 movie Marty Supreme on Wednesday and decided to will a marketing moment into existence. Both have films dropping December 18—Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three—and they want you to call it Dunesday.
“We both have films opening on December 18, and we decided to coin it… We’re thinking Dunesday,” RDJ told the crowd. Then added: “We’ll see if we’re still friends by then.”
Which. Okay. I have thoughts.
Why the Dunesday Math Might Actually Work
First thought: this is obviously trying to recreate what Barbie and Oppenheimer did in summer 2023. Combined gross of nearly $2.5 billion worldwide. Cultural phenomenon status. Everyone posting their double-feature outfit pics.
Second thought: it worked because those movies were different. Pink versus nuclear dread. Margot Robbie doing the wave versus Cillian Murphy looking haunted. The contrast was the content.
Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday are both… big? They’re both epic sci-fi spectacles with serious tonal ambitions? I’m not seeing the meme potential the same way. Like what’s the Dunesday fit—half stillsuit, half Doctor Doom mask?
Actually wait. That might go hard. I need to sit with this.
Third thought: the box office math is genuinely interesting. Endgame made $2.8 billion and sits at second highest-grossing ever. Dune: Part Two hit $715 million. Those aren’t the same league, but they’re both certified massive. If Dunesday catches on, you’re potentially looking at a December that breaks records.
But Glicked Didn’t Work
Here’s where my brain starts doing the “but wait” thing.
Wicked and Gladiator II tried this exact play. Glicked. The portmanteau was right there. The movies were both huge. And it just… didn’t hit the same? People saw both movies but nobody was posting their Glicked journeys.
Maybe because neither felt like opposite poles of cinema. They were both prestige blockbusters competing for the same audience, not creating irresistible contrast.
Dunesday might have the same problem. Or—RDJ returning as Doctor Doom is such specific unhinged energy that it creates its own gravity. And Chalamet’s Paul Atreides is peak “serious actor doing blockbuster things.”
The more I think about it… Doom vibes versus desert messiah vibes. The MCU’s most chaotic casting choice versus Villeneuve’s most controlled epic. There’s something there. Maybe.
FAQ: Dunesday Box Office Questions
Why might Dunesday actually work when Glicked didn’t?
Because RDJ returning as Doom is genuinely chaotic in a way that creates contrast with Villeneuve’s meticulous world-building. Barbenheimer worked because the movies felt like opposite poles. Dunesday has that potential—Marvel’s wildest swing versus auteur sci-fi. The tonal whiplash could be the selling point.
How does releasing the same day benefit both films instead of hurting them?
It creates forced event energy. Neither movie needs the other to succeed, but releasing together builds a narrative that pressures people to participate in the cultural moment. Manufactured FOMO—but effective manufactured FOMO. Studios have figured out that competition can be collaboration when framed correctly.
Anyway I’ve now watched that clip of them on stage together like four times and I genuinely can’t tell if this is two actors who actually like each other or two actors who are extremely good at pretending for promotional purposes and honestly does it matter if it makes me want to see both movies on the same day, which I probably will, which means—
