The Venice Film Festival is a historic event for cinema, being the oldest and longest-running cinema-focused festival of all time. The festival is largely dedicated to showcasing artistic works from around the world, but as of late, they've been known to venture out into selecting genre movies like The Shape of Water and Joker—and not only selecting those films but awarding them big prizes such as the Golden Lion. This year, another film will follow in their footsteps, as Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune has been selected for an out-of-competition screening at the festival.
Dune is based on the influential science fiction novel by Frank Herbert and tells a sprawling story of the galactic conflict in which the Atreides family lives as stewards over the planet Arrakis, a desert wasteland that happens to be the only source of a drug that is necessary for humans to be able to navigate through space. Villeneuve's Dune is the first visual media interpretation of the novel since the 1984 adaptation by David Lynch and the SyFy miniseries that aired in 2000, though multiple attempts have been made to get another adaptation of Dune made.
Dune has an extensive and exciting ensemble of Hollywood actors including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. Villeneuve directed a script he wrote along with two co-writers, Eric Roth (a longtime screenwriter who also wrote the script for Martin Scorcese's next film, Killers of the Flower Moon) and Jon Spaihts (a reliable Hollywood screenwriter responsible for scripts such as Prometheus, Passenger, and The Mummy). Fans of Villeneuve's work know he is the filmmaker behind celebrated titles such as Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049, and as a fan of the novel, he agreed to direct Dune under the stipulation that he would be able to tell the story in two parts rather than one.
The news of Dune's acceptance into Venice follows the news that Fast and Furious 9 was selected as the secret blockbuster screening for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. The news also follows discussions pertaining to Warner Bros.'s decision to release their entire 2021 film slate day-and-date in theaters and on HBO Max, a trend that will be terminated at the start of 2022 in favor of a 45-day theatrical window. However, Warner Bros. is still willing to utilize the streaming service as an alternate means of distribution for riskier projects, as rumors suggesting HBO Max releases for DC films Batgirl and Blue Beetle have circulated around the press.
It could be seen as disappointing that Dune is screening out of the Venice competition when past titles like The Shape of Water and Joker were able to compete, but it is still a statement of confidence that Warner Bros. is giving the film a chance to garner serious critical acclaim at the Lido. Audiences are pickier than ever, with In the Heights grossing disappointing numbers at the box office on its opening weekend, meaning that universal acclaim would go a long way toward convincing audiences to give the $165 million budget science fiction film a chance during its theatrical release.
Dune is scheduled to be released in theaters and on HBO Max on October 1, 2021.
Source: La Biennale di Venezia