Following a press conference for “Dune: Part Two” held in South Korea, Denis Villeneuve declared that the new film is “much better” than his 2021 predecessor. Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya return for the follow-up, which opens in theatres in March 2024. It continues the narrative of Paul Atreides as he guides the Fremen in a conflict with the evil Harkonnen regime.
“For me, this film is much better than Part One,” Villeneuve stated. “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. I can not wait to share it with the fans and the moviegoers.”
It’s noteworthy that Villeneuve has gone on record as saying that the forthcoming “Dune” follow-up is a stronger film, given the first “Dune” flick was a box office hit with $402 million and an Oscar favourite with 10 nominations, which includes the award for best picture, and six wins. Additionally, the filmmaker has publicly stated that he would like to make a third “Dune” film, which would be based on Frank Herbert’s sequel novel “Dune Messiah.” “If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream,” Villeneuve stated in an August interview with Empire magazine. ” I will say, there are words on paper [for a third film].”
Villeneuve stated in an interview with the South Korean media that “Dune Messiah” is “being written right now.” He stated, ” The screenplay is almost finished but it is not finished. It will take a little time…There’s a dream of making a third movie…it would make absolute sense to me.” Villeneuve mentioned that “there was no gap” between the two “Dune” films he made, having started work on the first right away. He would rather not take the same path and go straight from “Dune: Part Two” to “Dune Messiah,” and a third “Dune” movie may not even happen depending on how well “Part Two” fares at the box office.
“I don’t know exactly when I will go back to Arrakis,” Villeneuve stated. “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.” Villeneuve praised the 2024 follow-up as “more muscular” than the initial movie in his most recent conversation with Total Film magazine. “The first movie was more meditative and contemplative. We were following a young man discovering a new planet, a new culture,” Villeneuve said. “The second movie…it’s more of an action film than the first part. It’s more muscular.”