Dune ($400 Million Worldwide Box office)

Legendary Entertainment has acquired the rights from the Frank Herbert estate for his iconic novel “Dune,” granting the production entity the film and television motion picture rights to the work.

The agreement calls for the development and production of possible film and TV projects for a global audience. The projects would be produced by Thomas Tull, Mary Parent and Cale Boyter, with Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert serving as executive producers.

The novel was also adapted as the 1984 film directed by David Lynch. The film starred Kyle MacLachlan and at the time was thought of as a flop, getting poor reviews and grossing just $30.9 million, but more recently has attained cult status.

Set in the distant future, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, whose family accepts control of the desert planet Arrakis. As the only producer of a highly valuable resource, control of Arrakis is highly contested among the noble families. After Paul and his family are betrayed, the story explores themes of politics, religion, and man’s relationship to nature as Paul leads a rebellion to restore his family’s control of Arrakis.

The sprawling novel was thought of as a challenge to film, particularly before the advent of sophisticated CGI effect. In 1973, Alexander Jodorowsky famously started on an adaptation that was to star the mind-boggling cast of Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, and Mick Jagger, but failed to get funding. Directors including Ridley Scott were also said to be interested.

kernel_thai wrote:Kind of favor the sy fy mini series myself.  The novel is a bit dense to do well in a 2 hour film.

Rusty Cunt wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:

kernel_thai wrote:Kind of favor the sy fy mini series myself.  The novel is a bit dense to do well in a 2 hour film.

I've only seen the Lynch version, there was a syfy mini????

I remember that. It was a 3, maybe 4 episode mini-series. It was also terrible. haha I hated it. The only thing I remember about it was William Hurt, and the fact that I never needed to watch it again.

Timothée Chalamet is entering final negotiations to star in the lead role of Denis Villeneuve’s two-part “Dune,” adapted from the iconic novel by Frank Herbert (via Deadline).

Villeneuve is directing the project for Legendary and the science-fiction epic will be his next project after “Blade Runner 2049,” which was released last fall to critical acclaim.

Chalamet is set to star as nobleman Paul Atreides, played by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch’s infamous 1984 adaptation. The story centers around rival families battling for control of the eponymous desert planet. Chalamet is coming off an Oscar nomination for “Call Me By Your Name,” which made him the youngest best actor nominee in the history of the Academy Awards. The 22-year-old is starring in Amazon’s “Beautiful Boy” this fall and is also eyeing a role in Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” adaptation.

Villeneuve has cited “Dune” as his passion project on numerous occasions. The filmmaker teased last November that his “Dune” adaptation will follow the books more closely than Lynch’s version did.

“David Lynch did an adaptation in the ’80s that has some very strong qualities,” Villeneuve said. “I mean, David Lynch is one of the best filmmakers alive, I have massive respect for him. But when I saw his adaptation, I was impressed, but it was not what I had dreamed of, so I’m trying to make the adaptation of my dreams. It will not have any link with the David Lynch movie. I’m going back to the book, and going to the images that came out when I read it.”

Chalamet’s “Beautiful Boy” debuts in theaters October 12.

Dune is being positioned as a big Thanksgiving release, and will arrive on November 20, 2020. Denis Villeneuve is directing this take on the iconic novel. It will play in both 3D and IMAX theaters.

Frank Herbert's classic fantasy tale is being produced by Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, and Villeneuve. Timothee Chalamet will lead the cast as Paul Atreides, whose family is now in control of the desert planet Arrakis and its rare, valuable spice. Also starring in the massive ensemble cast are Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling, and Stellan Skarsgard.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Cool! You're looking forward to this one, huh?

Tyger wrote:Finally see a sand worm, but no riding it and no blue eyes

UltimateMarvel wrote:Yeah, I did see blue eyes on the aliens. I'm confused as to what's going on but trailer looks good.

Does it look exactly like what you imagined it would, Wylde?

Following the release of the stunning trailer for Dune, audiences cannot wait to delve into the complex world of director Denis Villeneuve's upcoming sci-fi epic. Based on Frank Herbert's seminal novel, Dune will span across several movies, with Villeneuve now saying that it will be "at least" two.

"The story is so rich and complex that, in order to be faithful to the book, we'll need to make at least two movies. That was a deal right at the start."

Dune has been described as a mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey, and tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Adapting such a complex, richly detailed story is no easy task, and so it makes sense that Denis Villeneuve plans to slow things down and space them out across multiple movies. Whilst he says that is the "deal", the first Dune's financial success will likely also come into play, so here's hoping that it does well enough to justify the necessary sequels.

For those worried that the first Dune will feel like merely a fraction of the story, cinematographer Greig Fraser has already promised that the movie will offer audiences a complete adventure. "It's a fully formed story in itself with places to go. It's a fully standalone epic film that people will get a lot out of when they see it," Fraser said of the first Dune. "It was quite an adventure visually. It was a beautiful experience making it. The people involved with it, I was overwhelmed. Some of the actors, as well as being insanely talented actors, are just lovely, lovely people who I've become very close to since then."

Director David Lynch's Dune, released in 1984, attempted to pack in as much of the source material as it could into one movie, and as a result was a critical and financial disaster, and so, while there will understandably be some who are still concerned that the upcoming Dune will feel unfinished, it is promising to know that Villeneuve is avoiding repeating the mistakes of the previous adaptation.

Dune is currently scheduled for release on December 18, 2020, though this could reportedly be postponed due to the ongoing global circumstances. This comes to us from Variety.

Tyger wrote:So we probably won’t get to the sand worm riding in this one then.

I finally watched the trailer on my TV and saw the blue eyes and heard it much better. I definitely liked it a lot more, I need to stop watching trailers on my phone.

It's beginning to look like Denis Villeneuve and Warner Bros. will more than likely pushback Dune too, which is scheduled to open in December.

Warner Bros. has reportedly decided to push Denis Villeneuve's Dune to October 2021. The movie was supposed to open in theaters at the end of this year, but it doesn't look like that's going to be happening, due to the public health crisis. Warner Bros. already gambled with the release of Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which has not proven to be the great success that everybody was hoping for. AMC Theatres allegedly only has enough money to stay afloat for 6 more months and Regal Theaters just announced that they will be shutting down this Thursday for the foreseeable future.

Dune will reportedly now hit theaters on October 1st, 2021. Warner Bros. recently delayed Wonder Woman 1984 until Christmas Day, and it could have conflicted with Dune, which was originally set to open on December 18th. With the new release date news coming in, it's only a matter of time before the highly anticipated Wonder Woman sequel is pushed back too. The news comes just days after MGM announced that No Time to Die will now open in theaters in spring 2021, while also pushing Fast and Furious 9 to Memorial Day Weekend 2021.

Denis Villeneuve previously announced that he was going to be rushing to finish Dune by its release date, so this should give him and his creative team some room to breathe. However, this news has yet to be officially confirmed by Warner Bros. We'll have to wait and see if they end up making an official announcement by the end of today in regard to the new October release date.

There is a lot of hype surrounding Dune at the moment. Frank Herbert's iconic source material has been attempted and brought to the big screen before, with varying results. Denis Villeneuve's decision to make two movies has a lot of people expecting the best adaptation thus far, and the trailer has only made those expectations even higher. The trailer appears to take Herbert's words and bring them to life in a way that readers envisioned when reading the book for the first time. However, there are still some Herbert fans who are skeptical about the movie.

It's believed that Warner Bros. based their decision to move Dune off of the Regal Theaters news. Denis Villeneuve is reportedly supportive about the decision to push the movie back since he is trying to make a visual experience crafted for the big screen. The studio won't be taking the project and putting it on VOD or streaming in the near future, much like Marvel Studios and MGM, who are banking on movie theaters opening up again next year. This will come as a blow to Frank Herbert fans who were looking forward to seeing the movie this year, but it sounds like the delay will only help matters for the creative team, which will benefit everybody when next October arrives. Collider was the first to report on the Dune release date news.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Wish they didn't release that trailer this early. Oh well...

UltimateMarvel wrote:Trailer was way too long. I don't know anything about Dune, but how much did this trailer give away? Looks great though.

Tyger wrote:I already got my ticket for fake IMAX on the 23rd

In what comes as no surprise, the sequel for Dune finally has been greenlighted for a October 20, 2023 theatrical release with director, producer and co-screenwriter Denis Villeneuve returning.

The key word here is theatrical. We understand that a key point of negotiations between Legendary and Warner Bros was that Dune: Part Two would be given a pure theatrical window; no day-and-date HBO Max release plan is in the mix for this cinema spectacle.

The greenlight news was announced Tuesday on the Legendary and WB social accounts.

While David Lynch’s 1984 feature adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 412-page 1965 novel crammed the whole story into one movie, it was always part of Villeneuve’s vision to spread his reboot across two films.

“I just received news from Legendary that we are officially moving forward with Dune: Part Two,” the filmmaker said. “It was a dream of mine to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune, and I have the fans, the cast, and crew, Legendary and Warner Bros. to thank for supporting this dream. This is only the beginning.”

Dune overperformed its domestic projections this past weekend, opening to $41 million, with over half of its ticket sales driven by large-format and PLF theaters. Heading into the weekend we’d heard that Dune had some $12M in advance tickets sales; more than any other event film during the pandemic. The pic was bolstered further by Canada, which delivered 11% of domestic weekend ticket sales; it was on a theatrical window up there since HBO Max isn’t available in the country.

In regards to its performance on HBO Max, while WarnerMedia didn’t report any figures, Samba TV — which measures streaming viewership in 3 million U.S. households — reported that 1.9M Smart TV households watched Villeneuve’s Dune over the weekend. Among the theatrical/HBO Max titles measured by Samba TV, that’s the sixth-best weekend debut by a Warner Bros/HBO Max day-and-date title, Mortal Kombat topping that list with 3.8M.

All of this is a great indicator that those who wanted to watch Dune saw it in a movie theater. Warner Bros launched the movie ahead in overseas markets, where its current global box office stands at $223.2M.

“Denis Villeneuve has crafted a film that is both visually extraordinary and emotionally transporting, as evidenced by its global success both critically and at the box office,” said Toby Emmerich, Chairman of Warner Bros Picture Group. “We are thrilled to continue on this journey with Denis and his cast and crew, and our partners at Legendary, and can’t wait to bring the next chapter of this epic tale to theaters in October 2023.”

WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff told Deadline in a sit-down last week that a Dune sequel was definitely in the cards, with Legendary carrying 80% of the production cost and Warners the balance.

“Legendary is pleased to officially move forward with Dune: Part Two … once again based on the amazing books written by Frank Herbert,” said Legendary. “We would not have gotten to this point without the extraordinary vision of Denis and the amazing work of his talented crew, the writers, our stellar cast, our partners at Warner Bros., and of course the fans! Here’s to more Dune.”