Dune

Warner Brothers has pushed Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ back one month from November 20, 2020, to December 18, 2020.  The studio has also confirmed that the movie will be released on IMAX.  It’s unclear why this move was made, seeing as that places ‘Dune’ in a much more competitive date.  (It really had no competition in its November date.)  It must now compete with Steven Spielberg’s splashy remake of ‘West Side Story’, the adaptation of ‘Uncharted’ (so yes, the new Tom Holland movie is facing off against the new Zendaya movie), and Eddie Murphy’s sequel ‘Coming 2 America’.  And the weekend after that– Christmas Weekend– brings Disney’s live-action ‘Cruella’ starring Emma Stone, and the *ahem* less-anticipated ‘The Croods 2’.

Warner Brothers is said to be replacing ‘Dune’ in the November 20 date with an unknown “event film.”

 

RELATED:  Legendary CEO Confirms That Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Will Be Split Between At Least Two Films

 

‘Dune’ is expected to be the first of at least two movies, with Villeneuve adapting the sprawling Frank Herbert novel.  The film will also help launch a TV series, ‘Dune: The Sisterhood’ set to be released via WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streaming service.  Villeneuve will direct the pilot.

Villeneuve has packed ‘Dune’ with an all-star cast: Timothée ChalametRebecca FergusonOscar IsaacJosh BrolinStellan SkarsgårdDave BautistaZendaya, David Dastmalchian, Stephen Henderson, Charlotte Rampling, and Jason Momoa.  If the first and second movies do well, there are plans to adapt Herbert’s numerous other ‘Dune’ books into films.

David Lynch directed a film adaptation which was released in 1984, which was a box office flop.  It was slightly more successfully turned into a TV miniseries on Syfy in 2000.

Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ has wrapped production, and is now in post-production.  Due to the extensive special effects, this is expected to be a lengthy process.

It’s possible that WB could move ‘Dune’ again, due to the competition in its new release date, or that one or more of these other films could move.  (‘Coming 2 America’ seems a likely candidate for rescheduling, with Collider indicating that the Martin Luther King holiday is perhaps a better fit.)

What do you think of ‘Dune’ moving into the highly competitive Christmas market?  Can it beat a splashy musical directed by Spielberg and a Disney live-action flick?