The shorter runtime for Dune 2021 could help the sci-fi movie avoid Blade Runner 2049's commercial failure. Denis Villeneuve's latest sprawling epic is split into two parts of an equally grandiose scale, with the first slated for release in October 2021. Villeneuve's previous turn for the genre was the Blade Runner sequel, which became a critical darling but underperformed heavily at the box office, with many citing its protracted runtime as a reason for its lack of profit.
Frank Herbert's character-driven book Dune has been something of a poisoned chalice for directors, with both previous attempts at translating its vast scope to the screen falling short of expectations. David Lynch's 1984 film was universally panned due to its numerous deviations from Herbert's novel. The sheer amount of content Lynch attempted to cram into 2 hours and 17 minutes led to a wholly confusing story adaptation, with those not familiar with Dune's story cut adrift early in the narrative. John Harrison's three-part miniseries in 2000 fared only slightly better since, despite Harrison's logical choice to spread the source material across 3 episodes and give the story room to breathe, the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) series stuck to the novel's prose so closely that certain parts were incredibly lethargic.
Yet Dune's shorter runtime can avoid repeating Blade Runner 2049's box office failure. A more compact runtime for Dune part 1 gives the movie a much better chance at holding moviegoers' attention in a way Villeneuve's Bladerunner 2049 seemingly did not. The decision to split Dune into two parts also allows Herbert's story the room to flourish while simultaneously giving Villeneuve a chance to establish popularity for the Dune franchise that goes beyond its current cult following.
One of the biggest charges leveled at David Lynch's Dune was that it felt bloated, running at just 137 minutes with swathes of content poorly adapted from the novel. This ensured it translated as a wholly confusing affair to anyone who had not read the source material, essentially alienating a huge chunk of its audience. Villeneuve's version appears to have learned from its disowned David Lynch predecessor by announcing a structure of two shorter interconnected movies that still allow Frank Herbert's vision to come to life. A length of 155 minutes for Dune part 1 is rather short by today's blockbuster standards, giving Dune a much better opportunity at holding the attention of those not previously invested in the planet of Arrakis.
Villeneuve and Warner Bros. also seem to have learned their lessons from Blade Runner 2049's 163-minute runtime, which ultimately hampered the movie's sales. Although not an exact science, a longer movie usually leads to fewer daily showings and lower box office numbers overall. Of course, there are special films that buck this trend, with Avengers: Endgame's runtime in excess of 3 hours doing little to dissuade audiences from making it the highest-grossing movie of all time. The difference here is that The Avengers and the MCU multiverse stand on a bedrock of unwavering popularity built over a decade of consistent box office success, whereas Dune, just like Blade Runner before it, does not. Time will tell whether a change in structure and a reduced runtime will be key contributors to the latest Dune's success, but learning from past mistakes seems a great place to start from Villeneuve and Warner Bros.