Chalamet and Downey Jr. Coin ‘Dunesday’ for December Movie Showdown

Hollywood just got a little more exciting. Timothée Chalamet, 30, and Robert Downey Jr., 60, revealed they are teaming up to create a new “Barbenheimer” moment. During a recent Q&A moderated by Downey for Chalamet's Marty Supreme, the actors announced that Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three will hit theaters on the same day this December.

“We both have films opening on December 18, and we decided to coin it — we’re thinking Dunesday,” Downey told the audience, according to Variety and videos shared on X on Thursday, Jan. 15. “We’ll see if we’re still friends by then.”

Downey is back in the Avengers universe as the villain Victor Von Doom in Doomsday, the first Avengers movie since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. While no official images of Downey as Doctor Doom have been released, the film has already teased big returns: Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and James Marsden as Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops, plus Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach reprising their roles from Fantastic Four.

Chalamet will reprise his role as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Three, continuing the epic story from Frank Herbert’s 1969 novel. Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, and Anya Taylor-Joy are also expected to return. Robert Pattinson will join the franchise in a new role, along with Momoa’s 17-year-old son, Nakoa-Wolf.

Fans may be in for another box office frenzy similar to July 2023’s Barbenheimer, when Barbie and Oppenheimer released the same day. Moviegoers raced to see both films, creating the biggest combined opening weekend since the pandemic. Could Dunesday spark the same excitement? Only time will tell.

Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three hit theaters December 18.