Warner Bros. has done everything it can to indicate that it will make a sequel to Dune and finish the story. Everything…except actually announce one.
Dune, director Denis Villeneuve’s sweeping adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel, finally opens this weekend after many delays, and it’s in kind of a weird place. The movie only adapts the first half of Herbert’s book — a second part is literally necessary for this story to make any sense, and Warner Bros. has already poured $165 million into the project, not to mention hired half of Hollywood’s best and brightest to pull it off, including Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Zendaya, Jason Momoa and Timothée Chalamet as lead character Paul Atreides. Surely they wouldn’t go to all that trouble just to let things die halfway through?
If you listed to Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff, no they wouldn’t. “Will we have a sequel to Dune? If you watch the movie you see how it ends, I think you pretty much know the answer to that,” she told Deadline.
That is nice of her to say, because I would definitely like to see the whole story with this cast and this director, but if they’re really committed to finishing this, it is a little weird that they haven’t already moved on starting production on Dune Part 2. The other idea floating around is that they’re waiting to see how the first movie does, both on streaming on HBO Max and in theaters. The movie has already snapped up $116 million at the box office before opening in the United States and China, the two biggest film markets, which is a good sign.
And HBO Max is making a Dune TV series called Dune: The Sisterhood. it seems like Warner Bros. has done everything they can to confirm that a follow-up to Dune is coming except…actually announce one.
Well, the movie hits theaters this weekend. And it’ll be available to watch at home tonight, one day early! So if you want to see a Part 2, the best way is to watch Part 1:
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