Much of the pre-release advertising for Dune featured the tagline, “It begins,” so you pretty much knew this was coming: Dune 2 has officially been given the greenlight with Denis Villeneuve back at the helm.
Legendary and Warner Bros. are moving ahead with the sequel for an October 2023 release. Villeneuve has since the beginning expressed his desire to make Dune a two-part cinematic event, and now he has the go-ahead to do just that.
“I just received news from Legendary that we are officially moving forward with Dune: Part Two,” said the director in a statement. “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.”
Dune was the latest of WB’s day-and-date 2021 releases, with the film earning a $40.1 opening at the domestic box office even as it simultaneously hit HBO Max. With a pre-marketing budget of $165, the adaptation has earned $223 million globally so far. Since Legendary put up 80% of the production budget, making the planned sequel was their call.
While star Timothée Chalamet will return as Paul Atreides for Dune 2, we’re not going to spoil things by revealing who else is expected back for the sequel. The first Dune stars a massive cast that includes Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, and Zendaya.
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
Advertisement— Legendary (@Legendary) October 26, 2021
