Dune: Part Three Breaks BFI IMAX Pre-Sale Record with 33,000 Tickets in 24 Hours

The Irish Film Classification Office has confirmed Dune: Part Three at 151 minutes (2 hours and 31 minutes), putting an end to months of back-and-forth over conflicting figures. When IMAX presales opened over the summer, the listed runtime was 140 minutes; AMC quietly updated its listing to 151 in October. Because the Irish classification body reviewed an actual final cut, its figure is considered the most reliable.

At 151 minutes, Part Three is the shortest film in Denis Villeneuve's trilogy — four minutes shorter than the original Dune (155 minutes) and fifteen minutes shorter than Part Two (166 minutes). The film is based on Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah, the leanest and most intimate novel in the original trilogy at barely 250 pages. Actor Javier Bardem has hinted the film reaches well beyond its source material, and the recently released final trailer pointed in the same direction.

More than an hour of footage was filmed specifically for IMAX. Advance sales suggest audiences are undeterred by the length: London's BFI IMAX sold 33,000 tickets within 24 hours of going on sale, a new first-day record for the venue. In the US, advance sales have reportedly reached around $10 million, putting Part Three on pace to open above $100 million domestically — a first for the series.

Dune: Part Three opens December 18, the same day as Avengers: Doomsday.