The Fire Behind The Film: ‘Dune: Part Two’

Dune and Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve has commented on what it would take for him to make a third film in the sci-fi franchise.Speaking with Empire, Villeneuve spoke about the newly-released Dune: Part Two, in which he completes his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s first Dune book. Villeneuve has not shied away from addressing the potential of a third Dune film, though he previously stated that he’s planning to take a break first.Now, Villeneuve has reiterated to Empire that he doesn’t have Part Three – dubbed Dune Messiah after the book of the same name – on his mind right now: “I did both movies back-to-back, which makes absolute sense for me.

Dune mega fan has reportedly seen the 2021 film over 200 times, memorising its script in the process.Mac J., who runs the @batsdune account on X (formerly Twitter), has been using the platform as a log to note every time he watches the movie. To date, Mac has seen the film over 200 times and per an interview with Inverse, has the sci-fi epic’s script memorised.At the time of publishing, Mac J.’s account has logged that the mega fan has seen Dune: Part Two 18 times already – most of them in IMAX.

LOS ANGELES — As Universal Pictures prepared for a big night at the Academy Awards with “Oppenheimer,” the studio also celebrated the No. 1 debut of “Kung Fu Panda 4,” which collected $58.3 million in domestic theaters over the weekend, according to estimates Sunday.“Kung Fu Panda 4,” the first film in the DreamWorks Animation franchise since the third installment in 2016, got off to a better start than all but the 2008 original.

Austin Butler is sharing the inspiration behind his performance in Dune: Part Two!

Dune: Part Two has become one of the defining blockbusters of 2024, but not all the attention has been around the film itself.Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the sequel picks up as Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) unites with the Fremen people on Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen.Along with Chalamet, the film stars Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Javier Bardem and Austin Butler.Dune: Part Two managed to earn $200million at the worldwide box office within its first week, making it the highest-grossing film of the year so far.Sandworm

If we’re going to praise the visual rapture of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” movies—and we should—and in particular, the newly released “Dune: Part Two,” there’s no conversation that can happen without mention of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser, who won his first Oscar for “Dune” in 2022. READ MORE: Denis Villeneuve Calls ‘Dune: Part Two’ A “Dark Tragedy,” Talks Potential ‘Messiah’ Sequel & More [Interview] While “Dune: Part Two” is genuinely unanimously praised by critics (read our review here)—and this weekend, it grossed $178.5 million worldwide, and with $81 domestic, that’s the biggest opening since “Barbie”— it does have a small group of detractors.

Last week saw the global launch of Denis Villeneuve’s second “Dune” film, wrapping up the conclusion of the first novel adaptation while also leaving everything on a cliffhanger for a third movie that the filmmaker is co-writing with franchise screenwriter Jon Spaihts. Strong critical responses and audience word of mouth have paid off big time for the film as it has made some history over the weekend, becoming the biggest opening for the director and overperforming compared to the first part that was released back in September 2021.

Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve has defended the film’s lengthy running time amid debates about whether or not films are getting too long.The sci-fi epic has clocked up a running time of 2 hours and 46 minutes, just slightly longer than the first instalment of the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel, which was 2 hours and 35 minutes long.It’s been noted that films have gradually been getting longer in the last decade, sparking a debate about how necessary that is. It picked up pace in particular last year with the release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, which were three hours and three and a half hours long respectively.Now, Villeneuve has had his say on the matter.

The much anticipated cinematic release of the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune has finally arrived, and it was indeed worth the wait. The first film took the world by storm and made a new generation fall in love with Frank Herbert’s science fiction space opera, which was no mean feat considering that the source material is notoriously complex, filled with strange concepts and dense foreign political intrigue. This was the main factor in the failure of David Lynch’s 1984 Dune film. But not only did Villeneuve succeed where others had failed, he managed to craft a cinematic masterpiece that was commendably faithful to the book upon which it was based. Now that Villeneuve’s second Dune film, which covers the second half of the book, has been released we are pleased to say that it is yet another astounding piece of science fiction cinema.

Dune: Part Two ” is delivering on the promise. Armed with sandworms, big screen spectacle and the star power of Timothée Chalamet, Denis Villeneuve ’s science fiction epic stormed the North American box office this weekend earning $81.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.Internationally, it earned $97 million, bringing its global debut to $178.5 million.“Denis made a really extraordinary and special film and its been really exciting to see people respond,” said Mary Parent, a producer on both “Dune” films and chairman of worldwide production at Legendary. “It was made for the big screen and it feels like it’s being received as a cinematic event.”It’s the first major hit of 2024, and one that was sorely needed by exhibitors.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dune: Part Two” is turbocharging the international box office. Director Denis Villeneuve’s otherworldly sequel has generated $97 million from 71 overseas markets, bringing its global tally to a promising $178.5 million. Those worldwide revenues include $81.5 million from North American theaters, where it landed the biggest domestic opening weekend of the year.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Post called the film, which is the second of a two-part adaptation of the 1965 novel “Dune” by Frank Herbert, a “sci-fi triumph that’s better than the first.”The sequel to the 2021 original stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem in reprising roles and welcomes Christopher Walken, Austin Butler and Florence Pugh to its cast.Remaining in second was “Bob Marley: One Love,” which was released on Valentine’s Day, with earnings of $1.92 million.“Ordinary Angels” stayed in third, with a just-over-$1 million-dollar take.

When movies come out, we grade them with reviews, define them by box office returns or eyeballs on streaming services, and maybe trophies down the line. But every successful, ambitious film starts with a dream, followed by compromise and adversity. Deadline offers the occasional peek into the creative aspirations, and the sweat and blood that propels ambitious films.

Dune: Part Two adapts the second half of Frank Herbert’s original 1965 novel, but the film makes some key changes from the book.Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the sequel to 2021’s Dune picks up as Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) unites with the Fremen people on Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen.Along with Chalamet, Dune: Part Two stars Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Zendaya, Austin Butler and Florence Pugh.After being accepted as the Lisan al Gaib (an off-world prophet or messiah) of the Fremen, Paul Atreides leads them on an attack against Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) and House Harkonnen. Through the Fremen’s faith in Paul, and by riding the sandworms, they manage to invade the capital city, Arrakeen.To avenge his father’s death, Paul kills Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård).

Following ecstatic reviews (including ours) and a super impressive Rotten review score of 97, Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” seems poised to not only conquer the sagging 2024 box office but enliven it, perhaps giving it the shot in the arm it needs. READ MORE: ‘Dune: Part Two’ Review: A Darker, Devastating Blockbuster & Cautionary Tale About Prophecy, Fate & False Idols It’s a colossal film and an immense achievement, but a much darker film, and clearly much darker than I expected (full disclosure: I started reading, but put down Frank Herbert‘s “Dune” before the first film came out; more below).

We’ve been waiting for this one for quite some time.

Timothée Chalamet and Denis Villeneuve have said that they spoke to each other in French on the set of their new film, Dune: Part Two.The pair were speaking to the The New York Times to promote the new film, which is the second part of the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 896-page sci-fi novel, and the writer of the interview noted that they were speaking in French each other when they arrived. Villeneuve is from Quebec, the French-speaking area of Canada, while Chalamet is a dual American and French citizen.“It was the way that we were able to find intimacy in the chaos.

“Dune: Part Two,” which hits theaters March 1.“I’ve definitely in the past, with ‘Elvis,’ explored living within that world for three years and that being the only thing that I think about day and night,” Butler told the Los Angeles Times in an interview with the movie’s director, Denis Villeneuve.“With Feyd, I knew that that would be unhealthy for my family and friends.”Butler was so immersed in playing Elvis Presley in “Elvis” that, for a long time after finishing his role on the movie, he still spoke in Presley’s Southern drawl.Villeneuve joked that, if Butler absorbed himself as much in Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen as he did with Presley, it would also be unhealthy for the director.“So I made a conscious decision to have a boundary,” Butler said. “It allowed for more freedom between action and cut because I knew I was going to protect everybody else outside of the context of what we were doing.“That’s not to say that it doesn’t bleed into your life,” he said.

Dune: Part Two, and critics are full of praise for Denis Villeneuve’s “epic” sci-fi sequel.Part Two concludes the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 896-page, 1965 novel, following Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he unites with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen to learn the ways of the desert, wage war on the forces that destroyed his family, and fulfil his destiny as the supposed chosen one.At present, the film holds a score of 97% from 115 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with only three negative write-ups to be found.Many have praised the sequel for its gigantic scope and ambition, including Rolling Stone‘s David Fear, who wrote: “Villeneuve has outdone himself. More importantly, he’s done justice to the scope and scale and sheer weirdness of a stoner-lit touchstone’s back half without, pun intended, sanding away its edges.”The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw said Dune: Part Two is “superb at showing us an entire created world, a distinct and now unmistakable universe, which will probably be much imitated: a triumph for cinematographer Greig Fraser and production designer Patrice Vermette.

In perhaps one of the best feel-good stories in Hollywood this year, a coalition of 35 filmmakers have invested in a coalition to save Los Angeles’ fabled Westwood Village Theater. Organized by Jason Reitman, the group will book first-run features and repertory programming from the theater’s directors/caretakers.