No ‘Barbenheimer’ Harmony: Is ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Picking a Fight With ‘Dune 3?’

After much anticipation, Marvel Studios released the first full trailer for “Avengers: Doomsday” on Monday, showing Earth’s (and the multiverse’s) mightiest heroes making a stand against Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). The footage, which previously screened at CinemaCon, was joined by the release of a new poster, featuring a maskless Doom standing before a painting of a woman and child. The poster features only a single line of text. “12.18.26 IS DOOMSDAY.” But most cinephiles already know that Dec. 18 marks the release of another highly-anticipated film: Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three.” Obviously, Marvel Studios would never go out of its way to dub the date “Dunesday,” as some have called it, while marketing its own movie. The specific verbiage that Dec. 18 is Doomsday, rather than simply saying that “Doomsday is coming” or encouraging audiences to “Assemble this December,” feels targeted given this high-profile double billing. It’s as if to say, “This is ‘Avengers’ day, and we’re not moving.” (And Kevin Feige confirmed the date is not changing in an interview this week). Regardless of the tagline itself, fans online are certainly making “Dunesday” more into a fight than a double feature. After this salvo in the great box office battle, it’s hard to imagine these two movies living in “Barbenheimer”-like harmony. The road to Dunesday The waters between “Dune” and “Avengers” have already proven a bit turbulent, far from the spirit that eventually helped float “Barbenheimer” to a historic box office weekend. For a while, it seemed as if one of these two films would move from the Dec. 18 date, fearing the heavy crossover between target audiences. But that date change never happened. Instead, news broke earlier this year that “Dune” had secured an exclusivity deal with Imax — a major blow to Disney, which has long had its pick of the litter when it comes to getting its franchises in premium formats. So Marvel Studios used CinemaCon to announce its own initiative it could use in lieu of these Imax screens: Infinity Vision. Theaters are able to submit their screens to Marvel for approval, with the studios marking theaters that meet their standards for laser projection, screen size and sound quality as “Infinity Vision” theaters, thus essentially creating a new premium format from scratch. “Disney’s standards for production quality are second to none, with every single detail of a film finely tuned for an immersive experience,” said Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution for The Walt Disney Studios, at the time. “Infinity Vision certification extends that commitment to the theaters themselves, representing a shared effort between The Walt Disney Studios and the exhibition community to help audiences quickly find the very best screens in their area to experience our films in exactly the way they’re designed to be seen – on a huge screen with the sharpest, clearest color and sound.” This format feud probably caused some bad blood between the studios, both looking to have their tentpole holiday blockbusters seen as big and loud as possible. It also speaks to the core difference between “Dunesday” and “Barbenheimer” — one pitted a female-led comedy against an R-rated “Great man” biopic drama, while the other sees two sci-fi blockbusters duking it out at the multiplex. The target demographics are nearly identical. Marvel planted another flag on Monday by releasing early tickets for “Avengers: Doomsday” (in Infinity Vision, no less) months ahead of time, borrowing a page from the “Odyssey” playbook. If these two films are going head-to-head, Marvel Studios clearly wants audiences to book their “Avengers” tickets first. A sci-fi civil war? The stars of “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Dune: Part Three” tried to get ahead of this early. Back in January, Downey appeared at a Q&A for “Marty Supreme,” where he, joined by “Dune” star Timothée Chalamet, told the audience that they decided to coin a name for Dec. 18: “Dunesday.” “We’ll see if we’re still friends by then,” Downey quipped. Many fans, however, have been less buddy-buddy about the double feature, with comments on social media blasting the “Doomsday” trailer for not being up to “Dune’s” quality. “it’s called ‘Dunesday’ because I’m going to watch Dune and then call it a day,” @PanasonicDX4500 remarked. Comments like this abounded on Monday, with an online rivalry seemingly brewing between “Dune” and Marvel after the two films released trailers in close proximity (with “Dune” fans particularly coming down hard on the Marvel trailer). Of course, “The Odyssey” recently proved once again that online comments don’t translate to box office results, but the energy around these films, thus far, feels far from the “Barbenheimer” harmony. It’s not like Warner Bros. and Universal were taking to the streets and encouraging audiences to turn out for each other’s films during Barbenheimer. But a rising tide lifts all boats, and both studios steered away from making things a competition. That paid off. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” opened to $162 million domestic and went on to gross $1.447 billion worldwide, while Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” opened to $82 million domestic and went on to gross $975 million worldwide. There’s reason to believe a “Dunesday” double feature could thrive in the same way. Die-hard fans of franchises as big as “Dune” and the MCU are not likely to stay at home for either film, regardless of their proximity to each other. They will also have the added benefit of coming out during the holiday season, giving each more of a runway than other times of the year. Zendaya in “Dune: Part Three” (Warner Bros. Pictures) “Any number of films can survive during the holidays. It’s a much different market than in the rest of the year,” Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap in March. “There’s a lot of free time and I think a lot of traditional focus in going to the movies among the public that time of the year.” Still, it’s easy to read the statement that Dec. 18 is “Doomsday” — that the day belongs to “Doomsday” — in contrast, as fighting words, intentional or not. It’s a seeming rejection of the “Barbenheimer” spirit. Whether that’s the intent of the tagline or not, fans on the internet are certainly using the “Avengers” trailer release as an opportunity to pick sides in the great box office battle. However well both films do, Monday felt more like it was building toward a fight than a cross-cinema celebration. So don’t be surprised if this double feature is more combative than Gerwig and Nolan’s summer 2023 event. Choose your fighter.