The next big project coming from Warner Bros. is Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune, but why is the studio pushing so hard on it after the failure of Blade Runner 2049? The coronavirus pandemic completely changed the entertainment industry as the production of many projects had to be put on hold while many others that were ready to be released had to be pushed back or ended up skipping a theatrical release in favor of one through streaming platforms. Among those that have suffered from the impact of the pandemic is Dune, but Warner Bros. is still betting big on the project despite some factors that could play against it.
Based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert, Dune is an epic sci-fi movie directed by Denis Villeneuve and the first of a planned two-part adaptation. Set in the far future of humanity, Dune follows Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) who accepts the stewardship of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of a valuable substance that extends human life and more. Knowing well it's a trap set by his enemies, he takes his concubine Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), his son and heir Paul (Timotheé Chalamet), and his trusted advisors with him, but a betrayal and the presence of giant sandworms complicate everything. Dune is Villeneuve’s first big project since Blade Runner 2049, which makes Warner Bros.’ faith in it a bit strange.
Blade Runner 2049 is the sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic Blade Runner, and it stars Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and Ana de Armas. It follows K (Gosling), a Nexus-9 replicant “blade runner” who uncovers a secret that threatens to destabilize society. Blade Runner 2049 had Ford reprising his role as Rick Deckard and Edward James Olmos as Gaff. The studio built a lot of expectation around the movie and while it was a critical success, it was a big box office disappointment, so much that it couldn’t break even and was a loss for the studio. However, Warner Bros. is betting big on Villeneuve’s take on Dune, and it’s all based on the quality of the source material along with that of his work in general.
The novel Dune is the first in a long saga and has become a classic in the sci-fi genre, and as such, it has gone through different adaptations through the years, most notably the 1984 movie by David Lynch, which was a big office bomb. However, there’s a lot of potential in the Dune series, more so now that technology has advanced enough for filmmakers to bring this complex universe to life in better and bigger ways. Warner Bros. knows well what it can achieve through Dune, so much that there’s a second part to Villeneuve’s movie already planned and a prequel spin-off series is in the works at HBO Max. All that, along with Villeneuve’s consistent quality in his work (Blade Runner 2049 underperformed at the box office, but it’s not a bad movie at all), are the driving force for Warner Bros.’ faith in Dune despite the numbers that his take on Blade Runner brought in.
However, the future of Dune could change due to its simultaneous release on HBO Max for one month, as the movie could underperform and thus lead to the cancellation of the sequel, as Villeneuve has already explained. Dune has a lot of elements playing in its favor, so it’s only a matter of waiting to see if all the effort that Warner Bros. and the crew have put into it will pay off.
