dune

We’ve heard rumors that Legendary Pictures was eyeing Denis Villeneuve (‘Prisoners’,’Incendies’) to direct the reboot of ‘Dune‘ and word has just come in that he’s got the job! Brian Herbert, son of the deceased Frank Herbert, has confirmed that Villeneuve will be tackling the film. Having just proven with ‘Arrival’ that he can put together a beautiful and high concept piece of work with a long runtime we might just be in for something special. While we aren’t sure exactly when it will be filming at this time, chances are that we’ll be hearing more as his current project, ‘Blade Runner 2049’ wraps up post-production.

Herbert took to Twitter to deliver the good news by saying that:

This will be the third take on ‘Dune’ with the most well known being David Lynch’s 1984 release and the more recent mini-series on Syfy. With the special effects of today and a director who knows how to handle complex story arcs and making it accessible to a large audience, this could easily be the best to be released so far.

I’m usually down on reboots but while both iterations of ‘Dune’ so far have been enjoyable in their own way, neither has properly captured the essence of the novel and I believe this could finally be our chance to see the sleeper awaken in live-action.

While I do hope and believe that Villeneuve will do an amazing job, I had often wished that Peter Jackson might be the one to adapt the novel. While ‘The Hobbit’ had no reason to be stretched as long as it was for the cinematic release, ‘Dune’ could easily be adapted into a trilogy of films without having to add in anything and material would still likely have to be cut to pull it off.

Are you looking forward to a remake of ‘Dune’? Do you think Denis Villeneuve can pull off such an ambitious project for modern audiences? Share your thoughts below!

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Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!