‘Dune: Part Two’: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya and Denis Villeneuve Introduce First Look

CinemaCon 2023: The sci-fi epic’s second half will be presented 100% in Imax in participating theaters

Dune
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures

Warner Bros. and Denis Villeneuve turned Frank Herbert’s “Dune” into a Best Picture Oscar nominee, and now the film’s stars have come to CinemaCon to show how the story will end in “Dune: Part Two.”

Denis Villeneuve took the stage alongside Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya. The star noted that this installment shows Paul becoming a leader, even while noting that it’s all based on a well-read book. Zendaya assured the audience that she wouldn’t just be in Paul’s dreams this time. Villeneuve noted that Chris Walken brought both the expected menace and humanity. Florence Pugh brought strength and mystery.

Villeneuve admitted that “Dune Part I” was an appetizer for the sequel (“not the best way to sell a movie,” he joked) and that this film was more of a war movie and denser than its predecessor. The first film was shot 40% in Imax while this film will be 100% in Imax.

“Breathtaking,” Paul whispers in the opening trailer as he gazes out at the dunes of Arrakis. He flirts with the Fremen warrior Chani, played by Zendaya, who can’t believe that there are planets with so much water that people can “swim” in it.

The trailer then cuts to Pugh as Princess Irulan, the daughter of the despot Emperor Shaddam IV, who foretells the end of House Atreides and speculates that Paul may have survived the slaughter ordered by her father in the first film. Cut to Paul outrunning a sandworm and eventually riding the giant beast as a rite of passage to join the Fremen while being mentored by the tribal leader Stilgar, played by Javier Bardem.

Released in October 2021, “Dune” was one of the bigger gambles on the theatrical slate even before the pandemic made the box office more uncertain. Based on one of the most acclaimed but also one of the most complex sci-fi films ever written, it was unclear if audiences would turn out to see the film after Villeneuve’s previous film, “Blade Runner 2049,” struggled at the box office.

But “Dune” ended up earning just over $400 million worldwide and won six Oscars, ensuring that Villeneuve would get to finish the story.

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