'Dune' Gets a New Chance At The Big Screen From 'Pacific Rim' Studio

Nothing in Hollywood is a guaranteed thing. Incredible movies bomb all the time, while total critical disasters surprisingly blow-up the box office. Studios can, however, significantly hedge their bets if a movie is based on an existing property. And if that property not only has a following already, but is based on something vast that could easily spawn sequel after sequel, it’s like discovering a new world.

To that end, one such world just waiting to be conquered by Hollywood is Frank Herbert’s Dune. If you’ve never seen David Lynch’s rather loose adaptation of it, or some of the miniseries based on it, Dune is a sprawling space epic about different planets, and races, fighting over intergalactic resources. It’s a fantasy world full of political intrigue and backstabbing, so it scratches that Game of Thrones itch. It’s spread across a number of different planets, allowing for a Guardians of the Galaxy / Star Wars type world building. And it’s stacked with the kind of potential spectacle that audiences crave these days.

It’s actually a bit odd that Hollywood hasn’t been more actively trying to get a big screen Dune up and running in recent years. Paramount did have the rights to the franchise and commissioned a script (which was said to be fantastic), but the movie never got off the ground. Those rights have now lapsed and Legendary Pictures has picked them up. They haven’t immediately committed to a production. There’s no director or screenwriter hired at this point, and we don’t even know if it’ll be a film or a TV series. But for fans of Dune, it’s an encouraging sign. After all, Legendary’s produced everything from The Dark Knight to Krampus to Pacific Rim. They’re a great home for geek-friendly properties, which is Dune through and through.

[embedded content]

Related: The Last Sci-fi Blog: It’s Time to Give ‘Dune’ the ‘Game of Thrones’ Treatment

Follow @PeterSHall Follow @MoviesDotCom



Source link