RichC2

He isn't wrong. Big productions all look the samey to their era, can't differentiate too much from it and risk alienating what audience may be out there for it.

Dr. DVD

Character development was pretty much vacant in the Lynch version. You knew enough about Paul, Jessica, and a bit of Leto, but other than that everyone else was pretty minimal. The Harkonnens were reduced to being 80s cartoon villains, complete with the evil laughs.

asianxcore

He isn't wrong but considering what happened to his pitch for Dune, did anyone really expect him to say anything different?

DJariya

https://collider.com/dune-movie-new-...source=twitter

Dune postponed until October 1, 2021

Decker

Well we knew WB wouldn't bring it out on the same day as WW1984. Still that is a long delay.

DJariya

and all the people who have no idea who have no clue that streaming doesn't make shit for money are throwing a fit.

windom

Well, at least we're back to a Ghostbusters movie and a Dune coming out in the same year for a second time. I'm probably the only weirdo that cares about such things though.

milo bloom

The thing is, it does make “some” money. That Trolls movie that came out in spring? The studio was very happy with its returns, because parents were buying to keep the kids busy.

Now, Dune, of course would need drastically different numbers to break even. So we just need to understand those kinds of differences. Don’t dismiss streaming outright Netflix, Hulu and all those are still doing well so it has an audience.

As for the delay, yeah, not unexpected. I just wonder if they’ll still be able to get the cast together for the sequel 2 years down the road if they want. I wonder how much they could safely film now if they wanted?

Dr. DVD

Smart move in all honesty. Gives people more time to familiarize themselves with the source material, and that's a good date, though I think the first weekend of November would have been better, as October is typically best for horror films.

Artman

Good move. They really need to gameplan the marketing for this one.. magazine spreads and inside baseball trailers aren't going to cut it. And I've got more time to read the book!

Bandoman

The book is phenomenal - by far my favorite SciFi ever.

The postponement makes perfect sense. While I'm a bit disappointed, I don't think I would have gone to the theater this year anyway, even for this. A year from now and (hopefully) things will be very different.

Dr. DVD

I think I will have to retract my notion that this movie should come out in November of 2021, that's pretty much the time people get in the mood for holiday fare.

Looking at the past decade or so, the first weekend in October has a pretty good track record for producing movies that do well both financially and critically. All of the movies below opened that weekend (several by WB, so there is a pattern), and to great success on both levels:

-The Social Network
-Gone Girl
-The Departed
-The Martian
-A Star is Born

Basically, I think this is a sign the studio has confidence for the movie to do quite well and wants to pick a proven release date for it, one well after the summer fare has died down, but before the horror and holiday movies really kick into high gear.

DJariya

Blade Runner 2049 was such a highly anticipated movie 3 years ago, but it bombed big time. Some people blamed the marketing, which I think was partly the reason.

But as far as this movie goes, I think it's being moved purely for financial reasons. It's a very expensive movie and releasing it in this compromised environment is going to lead it to massive failure. You cannot expect people to read the book 1st to develop an understanding or appreciation for the source material. IMO most people won't. But WB does have a lot of time now to reassess the marketing.

milo bloom

I think Dune is closer to LOTR. 20 years ago there was a lot of concern about doing a big budget fantasy based on a half century old book, but the fanbase was far bigger than they expected.

Dune has both a classic novel plus a star studded cast going for it. LOTR had a few names, but Dune is like a who's-who of modern film stars.

Dr. DVD

If nothing else, I hope the stars sell the tickets, and the movie is good enough to get good word of mouth . Then, since it's only half a book, it will inspire more people to read the novel, that way when/if the sequel arrives, people are more familiar. I think this is also what happened with LOTR. I also remember the first couple of teasers for LOTR not generating much general public interest, then about two months before it opened they made one that generated a lot of interest. However...one could also consider the fact that the nation was very much reeling from 9/11 and were anxious for some pure fantasy escapist entertainment.

lwhy?

Delaying this until fall 2021 will give me time to read the book since it’s a long book.

Dr. DVD

It is quite long. I recommend taking the approach of reading maybe one chapter per night and not worrying about how long it takes. It worked for me with my re-read of both it and the sequel.

lwhy?

I’m reading a thousand page book currently and using that approach. I’ll probably start Dune after I finish it.

Dr. Mantle

We're certainly in a way worse situation now. If things go right, and a vaccine is widely available by next fall, I expect any open movie theater to do insane business and damn near every movie to be a financial hit.

Josh-da-man

I think that the success of Lord of the Rings comes down to the books having a huge cultural cachet -- nearly everyone has heard of Lord of the Rings and J. R. R. Tolkien -- but the average person has never read the books. The books can be impenetrable for a lot of people. They're slow-moving and talky, and Tolkien didn't have much interest writing action sequences. The Balrog scene, which was the centerpiece set-piece of the first movie, is told across about two pages in the book.

The most familiarity the average person might have with the franchise is that they remembered watching the Rankin-Bass Hobbit tv special when they were kids.

So the movies already had a huge built-in audience that was aware of the books, but never attempted to read them. So there were ready for the films. And it didn't hurt that the films were well cast, well-written, well-directed, and had great special effects and art direction.

Dr. DVD

That's kind of what benefited LOTR and kind of doesn't help Dune. Almost all anyone knows about Dune is that it's a book and had a crappy movie released in the mid 80s. They really need to take this time to examine the movie and cut a new trailer that may have more widespread appeal. I think it can be done, but they need to work on it. Also, while some may disagree, they should probably try for a PG-13 with this movie, unless they think an adults only R rated sci-fi movie can make it.

Giantrobo

Always wondered...why would a sandworm need teeth? I mean maybe some type of flat grinding type teeth or hard surfaces in their mouths as they grind sand or whatever as they moving through...but the teeth in the films/tv series and as described in the books are predatory. Like the kind of teeth for catching and holding prey...

Dr. DVD

Because they're actually Sarlaac pits.

jfoobar

Looking at the published cast today, I notice that there is no cast listing for The Shadout Mapes. She was a very significant character in both the book and the 80s movie and you can even see the scene in the trailer where the Duke discovers someone who has been wounded in the hall (Mapes in the book). Even in the condensed plotline of the Lynch film, she is still an important part of two critical scenes. In the book, there are at least a couple more. Now perhaps the published casting is not yet complete, but it would be an odd decision to completely excise the Mapes character from the new film.

There is also not a listing for Feyd-Rautha, but he is an easier character to wait until the second film to introduce.

Osiris3657

Just noticed on IMDb it's rated PG-13

No, that doesn't mean it'll be bad, but to me it means it won't be as awesome as it could have been