“Dune: Part 2” will no longer appear this year as announced. The second part of the film adaptation of the novel, which was directed by Canadian Denis Villeneuve, was supposed to hit the cinemas in November. The film studio Warner Bros. Discovery is said to have made this decision because the writers’ strike in Hollywood is still paralyzing the US entertainment industry.
Promotion for “Dune: Part 2” has already started
When Dune: Part 1 hit theaters in 2021, the blockbuster was unfolding with Timothée Chalamet (Bones And All), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), and Zendaya (Spider-Man: No Way Home”) for the first box-office hit after the COVID-related lockdowns. Due to the size and complexity of Frank Herbert’s novel on which the film is based, the studios and Villeneuve decided to split the story into two parts. As soon as it became clear that Dune: Part 1 was a financial success, the director gave the green light to the sequel.
But fans now have to wait for them, as the magazine “Deadline” reports. The reason is that no agreement has been reached in the ongoing writers’ strike in Hollywood. A first meeting between the union of writers, the WGA (“Writers Guild of America”), and the “Alliance Of Motion Picture And Television Producers”, which negotiates for the studios, remained unsuccessful. As Hollywood actors joined the strike in solidarity, the “Dune” stars would not be available for the usual press tours.
It seems like Warner Bros. doesn’t expect the strike to end by the time it originally started in November. A double defeat for the media group, as the promo for “Dune: Part 2” has already started. Trailers of the highly anticipated sci-fi flick have already been shown in cinemas and uploaded to YouTube. Putting further money into marketing without the stars drumming up the advertising drums would be too risky an undertaking.
Other blockbusters from the studio, which are scheduled for release in December, (still) keep their release dates. These include “Wonka” (also with Chalamet), the sequel to “Aquaman” with Jason Mamoa and a new film adaptation of the novel “The Color Purple”.
The new scheduled theatrical release of “Dune: Part 2” is scheduled for March 15, 2024.