DUNE 3 Gets Release Date, and It’s Sooner Than Expected
By Movieguide® Contributor
Despite director Denis Villeneuve stating he wanted a break from the DUNE universe before he returned for a third movie, Warner Bros. has now started the clock, and the movie is officially slated for release at the end of 2026.
Villeneuve has previously stated that he wanted to take a break from the DUNE universe before returning to fill out the trilogy. Though he had been working on a screenplay for DUNE: MESSIAH before the second movie was released, he didn’t expect it to be ready for some time.
“I felt that it was a good idea to move forward right after [DUNE]. We were already designing, writing, et cetera. But it also meant that for six years I was on Arrkis non-stop, and I think it will be healthy to step back a little bit,” he told Empire Magazine at the end of March.
“I don’t exactly know when I will go back to Arrkis,” Villeneuve confessed last December. “I might make a detour before just to go away from the sun. For my mental sanity I might do something in between, but my dream would be to go a last time on this planet that I love.”
“The screenplay is almost finished, but it is not finished. It will take a little time,” he added.
Villeneuve now has an answer on how soon he will return to Arrkis, as he has only two and a half years to deliver the final movie. While it appears he will not receive the reprieve he desired, its expedited return makes sense financially.
After being delayed due to last year’s strikes, DUNE: PART TWO was released in March, grossing over $700 million worldwide and currently sitting as the No. 2 movie of the year. The franchise will continue to deliver new content to its fans through the prequel series, DUNE: PROPHECY, which is set to release on Max at the end of the year.
Rather than allow excitement for the franchise to lose steam through a dry spell in the release schedule, bringing DUNE: MESSIAH to theaters by 2026 asks fans to wait only two years before returning for the final installment in the series.
Although the quick turnaround for the third movie poses some concern over Villeneuve’s ability to fully flesh out the characters, his previous statements about the conditions he would consider when returning to the series can, perhaps, provide some relief.
Movieguide® previously reported:
DUNE: PART TWO director and producer Denis Villeneuve wants to continue to raise the bar if he is to make the third installment of the epic sci-fi series.
“For me, [DUNE: PART TWO] is much better than PART ONE,” Villeneuve said. “There’s something more alive in it. There’s a relationship to the characters. I was trying to reach for an intensity and a quality of emotions that I didn’t reach with PART ONE and that I did reach with PART TWO. I’m not saying the film is perfect, but I’m much more happy with PART TWO than I was with PART ONE.”
With the critical and commercial success of DUNE: PART TWO, which has already earned over $220 domestically and over $500 million globally, Villeneuve doesn’t want to lose momentum.
“If we go back, it needs to be real, it needs to be relevant. If ever I do DUNE MESSIAH, [it’s] because it’s going to be better than PART TWO,” he said. “Otherwise, I don’t do it.”
Movieguide® nominated 2021’s DUNE for a Teddy Bear Award®. Part of the review reads:
DUNE is a powerful, exciting, satisfying epic. It’s worth seeing on a big screen. Even better, the movie has strong Christological themes, excellent dialogue and conservative statements about freedom and individualism. It affirms a father’s love and the importance of motherhood. DUNE has very little foul language, and no explicit crude content. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children and young teenagers because of intense action violence and references to the hallucinogenic properties of the natural resource called spice.
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