Denis Villeneuve's Dune is full of impressive visuals, complicated world-building, and in-depth lore, making a Warner Bros. trailer trick even worse. Villeneuve took an incredible gamble on his adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune. Rather than fit the entirety of Herbert's first novel in the book series into one film, Villeneuve broke the story up into two parts. However, Warner Bros. didn't approve the sequel right away, choosing to see how the first part of the story performed. Of course, Villeneuve's gamble paid off, and the studio approved a Dune sequel days after the first film's release. In all, Villeneuve plans three movies to tell Herbert's story.
However, Dune hasn't been without its controversies. After the film's first images hit the internet, fans wondered if Dune was taking itself too seriously and whether or not the movie would be any fun. While the space adventure seemingly put those fears to rest, new controversies have arisen. Namely, some viewers were left baffled why the film seemed to waste Zendaya, who plays Chani, and Dave Bautista, who plays Glossu Rabban. While both actors appear in trailers and marketing, their parts in the film are unexpectedly small.
Warner Bros. pulls off a disappointing trailer trick with Dune. The Dune trailers feature several captivating scenes. There are moments of Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides impressively wielding a blade in battle, several scenes feature Zendaya's Chani, and the trailer even teases Paul and Chani finally uniting and looking on as their army stands in victory. And it's all a lie. Dune has impressive visuals throughout the film; however, the marketing tends to focus on Paul's visions, which don't actually come to fruition in the movie. Several of Paul's visions and dreams are shown throughout the trailers, likely leaving viewers confused about the final product.
The Dune trailer sets fans up for disappointment. By showcasing scenes in the trailer that are merely Paul's visions, Warner Bros. prepares viewers for a story that doesn't happen. By simply watching the trailer, fans could easily think that Paul and Chani team up to liberate the planet of Arrakis. However, none of this occurs in the movie, and Paul's visions often don't come true. If anything, the visions just advertise the film's sequel, which wasn't even announced ahead of Dune's release. As Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho says in the movie, "Dreams make good stories, but everything important happens when we’re awake." Unfortunately, Warner Bros. doesn't take that advice to heart in the movie's marketing.
Misleading trailers are nothing new. Warner Bros. has also emphasized dreams in Zack Snyder's Justice League trailers, which focused on Knightmare visions that never actually come true in the film. As another example of misleading marketing, the Suicide Squad trailer featured several scenes with Jared Leto's Joker, who wasn't even the movie's main villain. Dune was successful enough that its misleading trailers didn't hurt the film; however, deceptive marketing can only take a movie so far. Warner Bros. better make good on Paul's visions in the future, or Zendaya fans won't be happy.
