In 2021, Warner Bros. decided to release all of its movies simultaneously in theaters and on its streaming service HBO Max, the thinking being that this would mitigate the potential danger of people gathering in movie theater in the age of the coronavirus. (And I’m sure they didn’t mind driving more subscribers to HBO Max.) The decision rankled a lot of people, including Denis Villeneuve, who directed the tentpole movie Dune for the studio.
“I think it was a bad decision,” Villeneuve told the Los Angeles Times. “I designed the movie to be seen in the theater, not on TV. If people are in a safe environment, it needs to be seen on the big screen.”
I agree that if people can watch the movie in a safe environment, seeing Dune on the big screen is the way to go…but of course, one of the many difficulties posed by the pandemic is that people often can’t see movies in a safe environment, so whenever someone makes this “but I made the movie to be watched in a theater” argument, it always sounds a little tone-deaf to me.
The studio’s duel release strategy was only ever designed to last through the end of 2021, so Warner Bros. movies should appear exclusively in movie theaters from now on, although they’ll show up on streaming not long thereafter. Honestly, with the omicron variant is tearing around the world, I wouldn’t mind if they kept on releasing movies day-and-day on HBO Max a bit longer, but it is what it is.
Zendaya’s character will be “more prominent” in Dune: Part II
However Villeneuve felt about the release of Dune, his relationship with Warner Bros. is still strong; he’s currently working on a sequel that will be along in 2023.
Dune is notable for its incredibly strong cast, from Timothée Chalamet to Zendaya to Oscar Isaac to Jason Momoa and beyond. “I was working with all big movie stars, and they were all coming on set like actors, no egos,” Villeneuve said. “Frankly, we were all saying to ourselves, ‘One of them will be an a—.’ Nobody. They were all inspirational.”
We saw more of some of those stars than others. Zendaya, who played the Fremen women Chani, basically only showed up at the end, but it was a relief to frontman Timothée Chalamet when she did. “I saw the smile he had on his face when Zendaya came in, because finally he would be able to share the experience with someone from his generation,” Villeneuve said. “They became friends spontaneously. It was beautiful to see that happening on set. In this first movie, we see glimpses of her character. She will be much more prominent in the second one.”
Dune: Part II is due out (in theaters) on October 20, 2023.
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