Timothée Chalamet‘s controversial comments on ballet and opera may have sparked a huge backlash but it has now been confirmed that it helped boost tickets sales.
The Marty Supreme and the Dune star told Matthew McConaughey at a recent event produced by Variety and CNN at the University Of Texas that he didn’t want cinemas to end up like “ballet or opera” where “no one cares” anymore.
The remarks led to an outpouring of criticism, not least from ballet dancers and opera singers themselves with the likes of opera legend Andrea Bocelli, ballet dancer Victor Caixeta and choreographer and ‘Eras’ tour dancer Kam Saunders weighing in.
Actress Whoopi Goldberg also criticised the star while ballet star Misty Copeland asked Chalamet why he invited her to promote Marty Supreme with her.
Despite the backlash, the head of the Royal Ballet and Opera, Alex Beard, has now thanked the star for helping to boost the London institution’s ticket sales.
He told The Times, that Chalamet’s comments had produced a “fantastic” public reaction.
“I thought it important that we didn’t issue a kind of hoity-toity response to Chalamet,” Beard added. “We simply said ‘Take a look at what we’re doing, mate’ – for instance, the fact that the largest portion of our audience by age is 20 to 30-year-olds.
“And you know what? Our post got two-and-a-half million engagements and half a million shares, just on Instagram. And our ticket sales got an immediate boost. So cheers, Timmy!”
Meanwhile, the first trailer for Dune: Part Three was recently released and excited fans are already declaring it the best film of 2026.
One fan even went as far to say “it is time to give Timothée Chalamet his first Best Actor Oscar for Dune 3 next year” after he failed to pick up Best Actor at this year’s ceremony for Marty Supreme.
Dune: Part Three is released in cinemas on December 18, which also sees the return of co-star Zendaya and new addition Robert Pattinson as Scytale, a figure who plots to overthrow Chalamet’s character Paul Atreides.
The blockbuster’s release date coincides with Marvel’s crossover epic Avengers Doomsday, creating a clash similar to 2023’s Barbenheimer phenomenon, where Oppenheimer and Barbie both shared the same release dates, prompting many to embark on an unconventional double bill. Chalamet recently appeared on stage with Marvel star Robert Downey Jr, who joked that they had come up with their own name for the event: “Dunesday”.