Zendaya and her pixie in Paris

Paris Fashion Week is over, but Zendaya is still in town and still serving face with that pixie cut that is making everyone long for short hair, like Halle Berry before her. She was seen shopping at Prada, which could be just another Thursday, or it could maybe be looking for Dune looks? The Dune: Part Three press tour is creeping ever closer.

A couple days ago, Lainey was wondering about Dunesday, December 18, the day both Dune and Avengers: Doomsday hit theaters. To date, I have been skeptical about Marvel taking on Dune, which has nurtured a devoted fanbase in the 2020s, while Marvel has been falling off at the same time. But y’all, the signs are amassing, and they are pointing toward Marvel.

First, there’s the advance ticket sales for Doomsday, which topped $50 million a month ago. Then, Avengers: Endgame was re-released in theaters (during a slow weekend) earlier this month, and it’s pulled in another $37 million, reclaiming the global box office crown from Avatar, but more importantly, signaling some nostalgia has set in, perhaps, for the original Avengers cast. On top of all that, of course, is Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s record-breaking box office, all of which is challenging the “superhero fatigue” narrative that has taken over social media in recent years.

I still think Marvel has the same problem they did at the end of 2019, which is they have to figure out how to move forward from Robert Downey, Jr. and the OG cast, which they have yet to do. But at least in the short term, for Dunesday, it looks like the December clash will probably go to Marvel. My prediction is that the Avengers get the opening weekend title, and probably overall box office, but Dune is still going to make a ton of money, and more importantly to some people, it will pull a ton of Oscar nominations. I’m looking at Dune: Part Three like Return of the King, this is the one where all the Oscars come home to roost. Really, everyone will win in one way or another, but if you simply must sportify movies, I think Marvel still has a death grip on Millennials and that’s about to pay off.