Sadly, the rumors are true for those hoping to see Denis Villeneuve’s Dune reboot by the end of the year, as Warner Bros. has officially delayed the anticipated blockbuster. The news follows a recent Collider report that the movie was getting delayed to next year, though the information hadn’t yet been confirmed by the studio. Now, the rumors have been verified, as Warner Bros. has officially announced that Dune has been postponed. The movie is now scheduled to premiere in theaters on Oct. 1, 2021.
Given everything else that’s been happening with the movie business in recent days, Dune getting delayed until 2021 is not surprising news. Days ago, 2020 lost yet another of its most anticipated releases when MGM pulled No Time to Die from this year’s schedule. The Daniel Craig-starring Bond movie will now be released on April 2, 2021, barring any additional delays. This comes after the project had already been pushed back several times amid continued uncertainty over whether theaters would be able to stay open.
MGM yanking Bond from this year’s schedule created a domino effect. Word broke soon after that Cineworld was closing all of its U.K. locations along with every Regal Theater in the U.S. As the theaters that have begun reopening have already been struggling with maintaining good business, losing such an anticipated release like No Time to Die was seen as a major blow by those in the industry. As we’re now seeing with Dune, other big releases are already following suit as well, and those at Cineworld likely saw the writing on the wall.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Dune is written by Jon Spaihts, Eric Roth, and Villeneuve. It is based on the original Frank Herbert novel of the same name, which was previously adapted into a movie by David Lynch in 1984. Featuring an ensemble cast, the movie stars Timoth&ée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Stellan Skarsg&ård, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Jason Momoa.
Villeneuve also has big plans to expand the mythology of his Dune movie with other projects, though it may be a while before we could see them come to fruition. The filmmaker has said that the movie will cover around the first half of the material from the original novel, and there are early plans to do a sequel. “I would not agree to make this adaptation of the book with one single movie,” the director told Vanity Fair earlier this year.
Meanwhile, an HBO Max spinoff series will add even more to the story. Dubbed Dune: The Sisterhood, the series will reportedly serve as a prequel to the movie, focusing on the Bene Gesserit. Dana Calvo will serve as the showrunner with Villeneuve directing the pilot episode. Production is scheduled to begin this winter, but there remains a good possibility that could be delayed.
Dune is scheduled to be released in movie theaters on Oct. 1, 2021. It’s a bummer to see it get its expected delay, but let’s just hope the wait is worth it. This news comes to us from the official Warner Bros. website.
