After the release of "Dune", the mainland box office was 171 million in 6 days (as of press time).
The investment cost of the film is as high as more than 200 million US dollars, equivalent to more than 1 billion yuan.
Compared with previous Hollywood blockbusters, this achievement does not seem to be outstanding.
Word of mouth is also extremely polarized, and those who like it think it is a legendary "space opera";
People who don't like it disparage it as a "big trailer" and ridicule the film that lasted more than two hours without saying anything about "positive content".
The film's Douban score is now stuck at 7.9 points, and the results are not bad.
However, on the cat's eye ticket that can only be rated by buyers, the rating of the film is relatively low.
How did it come to this?
The first point, perhaps, is the misalignment of expectations.
"Dune" has a "Hollywood blockbuster" face, a star-studded cast, a lot of investment, but it is not a genre film in the conventional sense.
Director Villeneuve even did a lot of "anti-climactic" treatment.
If you look at it with the expectation of watching a regular popcorn blockbuster, you may even feel that "the golden lineup is stewed".
Starring Sweet Tea, Timothée Chalamet, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor at a young age.
He has starred in many works such as "Call Me By Your Name" and "A Rainy Day in New York".
He is arguably the most promising male star of the younger generation.
Actress Rebecca Ferguson, who starred in the famous "White Queen".
She is also the "Disc" girl in the "Mission Impossible" series.
The supporting roles in the film also include famous actors such as Aquaman and Thanos, as well as a new generation of "Spider Woman" Zandaya.
However, director Villeneuve has always played cards according to common sense and is not willing to honestly make a popcorn blockbuster.
Thus, we see the unique rhythm of "Dune" that makes some people intoxicated but makes others feel like needles.
The second point may be because the background of the story is relatively complex and the setting structure is too large.
The original novel of "Dune" has a prominent position in the history of science fiction, and the story setting is very magnificent.
The size of a movie, it is impossible to finish all the content in the novel.
And such a complex fictional background, for people who have not read the novel, it is easy to form a barrier that is not friendly enough.
The film version of "Dune" is actually quite concise and clear in terms of character appearance, background introduction, and story line construction.
However, it is still easy to cause negative emotions in some audiences.
At the end of the day, it is normal to slowly unfold the epic prologue in a non-genre, anti-climactic way, and there will be word-of-mouth polarization.
The third point may be the difference in the need for the texture of the film.
Villeneuve's previous films, such as Blade Runner 2049, are also very unobtrusive in pace.
For audiences accustomed to commercial films, it can be very hypnotic.
But each set of lens imagery is very charming, philosophical, and has a broad space for interpretation.
The philosophical feel of "Dune" seems to be inferior to that of Blade Runner 2049, but it also has a similar aftertaste.
However, this implication is also easy to interpret as "the rhythm is slow" and "the nightmare picture of the chosen son (male protagonist) always appears is boring".
In the final analysis, the polarization of "Dune" word of mouth is a dispute between two different viewing habits.
There is no distinction between who is high and who is low.
But having a more diverse field of view may be a broader option.