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Neither the studio nor the actors left the audience on pins and needles for long! They announced the sequel to Dune and even the release date.
We were very afraid of “Dune” because it debuted in the US on HBO Max and in theaters at the same time, and overseas the movie theater is not very popular because of the pandemic, but Warner Bros., the distributor, didn’t give the green light for the sequel, didn’t let the second part be shot.
A sequel to the “Dune” is needed, as the first episode only covered two-thirds of Frank Herbert‘s sci-fi classic. But fear no more, because Warner and production studio Legendary Pictures have officially confirmed that “Dune 2” is coming!
Legendary Pictures shared the news on Twitter, along with a caption that reads.
“Thank you to those who have experienced “Dune” so far, and those who are going in the days and weeks ahead. We’re excited to continue the journey!”
Deadline reports that a theatrical premiere date has already been set, specifically the year and month: October 2023. Of course, Denis Villeneuve will be back on board as director, producer, and co-writer, and under Legendary‘s deal with Warner, “Dune 2” will debut exclusively on the big screen, but it will be Warner‘s general distribution strategy from 2022 onwards to keep its films in theaters for at least 45 days before sending them to HBO Max.
“I just received news from Legendary that we are officially moving forward with “Dune: Part Two”,” the filmmaker said. “It was a dream of mine to adapt Frank Herbert‘s Dune, and I have the fans, the cast, and crew, Legendary and Warner Bros. to thank for supporting this dream. This is only the beginning.”
“Denis Villeneuve has crafted a film that is both visually extraordinary and emotionally transporting, as evidenced by its global success both critically and at the box office,” said Toby Emmerich, Chairman of Warner Bros Picture Group. “We are thrilled to continue on this journey with Denis and his cast and crew, and our partners at Legendary, and can’t wait to bring the next chapter of this epic tale to theaters in October 2023.”
We shouldn’t be all that surprised that a sequel is coming, because there have been several signs pointing to it, and, one of Warner‘s bosses, Ann Sarnoff, has actually confirmed that it will, because she believes that if the first part of “Dune” ended with an open ending, it’s almost obligatory to continue it.
But the film did very well in the US and China (and Hungary) after its opening weekend. Overseas, in North America, it is currently at $41M, internationally it has grossed $182M, and worldwide, so combining the two figures, “Dune” has a balance of $223.2M. So it has already made back its budget of $165M, of course, it will have to generate much more than that to be a real success.
Deadline reports that “Dune” has also done well on HBO Max so far, with 1.9M households in the US watching the film on the streaming service over the weekend, according to external stats provider Samba TV.
Of course, it wasn’t the most successful film on Max this year in that respect, coming in sixth on the imaginary chart, like “Mortal Kombat”, which debuted as part of Warner‘s parallel distribution strategy, took the top spot with 3.8M. Admittedly, these are not official WarnerMedia figures, so treat them with reservations!
In the meantime, Hans Zimmer has also announced that he is coming back on board, so he will be composing the music for “Dune 2”.
No other information about the new film has been revealed yet, but if the crew were to return to Hungary to film, we’re sure all of Budapest would be roaming the streets with their eyes wide open, just in case they ran into the world stars again.
