**Strong presales, franchise scale, and locked dual release on December 18 drive near-certain trader consensus that Dunesday will surpass Barbenheimer’s roughly $244 million domestic opening weekend benchmark.** Dune: Part Three concludes Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed saga with Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, while Avengers: Doomsday marks a major MCU event headlined by Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom; both films have generated rapid ticket sales, including sold-out IMAX runs, and benefit from built-in audiences far larger than Barbie and Oppenheimer’s 2023 crossover appeal. Industry tracking and early metrics point to combined grosses well above the prior record, with no release-date shifts expected. Realistic upset paths remain narrow and would require significant negative reviews, major external disruptions, or unexpectedly sharp audience cannibalization between the two PG-13 epics.