The cast of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune 3” made it clear early on that there will be major “departures” from Frank Herbert’s literary franchise in the upcoming film, which is expected to draw heavily from the sequel to Herbert’s 1969 novel, “Dune Messiah.”
“There are a lot of things in this movie that are very faithful to the source material, and there are deviations,” Zendaya told the New York Times, with franchise newcomer Robert Pattinson adding, “You have to be a little crazy if you want to criticize this one (because of the changes made to the books).”
“The storyline was really cool, but it was pretty complicated,” added Pattinson, who makes his “Dune” debut as Scytale. “And watching the movie, it’s not at all about what I thought it was going to be about. It’s more of a big political and moral fable, and the movie is much more moving. A lot of it is about parenting, and I just thought it was so moving.”
When asked if he was happy with the ending to Villeneuve’s film trilogy, franchise star Timothée Chalamet replied: “Absolutely. It didn’t feel like the bar had lowered at all, Denis just changed the location of the bar. This movie is its own thing.”
“Dune 3” arrives in theaters at the end of a successful year at the box office. Its opening weekend alongside “Avengers: Doomsday” is expected to be the highest-grossing weekend in box office history. Florence Pugh, who returns in the third film as Irulan, credits the “Dune” films with bringing back the “return to the movies” after the pandemic and various Hollywood strikes. The first “Dune” film was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max and grossed $410 million worldwide, no small feat in 2021 when Hollywood was still disrupted by COVID. The 2024 sequel received an exclusive theatrical release and grossed $714 million.
“What an event the second one was,” Pugh told the Times. “It was so nice to be a part of something that we know is our generational genre of ‘Star Wars’.”
Zendaya added, “Any opportunity we have will hopefully allow us to contribute to the cinematic experience and keep it alive, because it’s such a part of my life, my childhood, so many people’s lives – that’s why we do it.”
“Dune 3” hits theaters on December 18 from Warner Bros. and Legendary.
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