Following a $41 million domestic opening weekend and a global total of $223 million so far, Legendary Pictures has now officially greenlit Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two”.
The company made the announcement on Twitter, saying: “Thank you to those who have experienced @dunemovie so far, and those who are going in the days and weeks ahead. We’re excited to continue the journey.”
The second film is expected to score a theatrical exclusive run, no hybrid HBO Max day-and-date release, in October 2023 – two years after the original.
The new film will adapt the second half Frank Herbert’s sprawling and dense novel with a big focus on Paul Atreides’ time amongst the Fremen while notably absent characters from the first part are expected to appear including Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Emperor Shaddam IV, though that’s not confirmed.
Meanwhile analytics firm Samba TV reports to Variety that “Dune” was watched by more than 1.9 million households from Thursday to Sunday. That’s above the 1.8 million of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” but below the 2.8 million of “The Suicide Squad” and 3.8 million of “Mortal Kombat”.
This is only the beginning…
Thank you to those who have experienced @dunemovie so far, and those who are going in the days and weeks ahead. We’re excited to continue the journey! pic.twitter.com/mZj68Hnm0A
— Legendary (@Legendary) October 26, 2021