Grave Dune Update: Next Movie to Arrive Years Later & from Another Director

Summary:

• Denis Villeneuve’s first two Dune movies became a massive international success and introduced millions of people to the franchise.
• Despite that, the director wants to take a break from Arrakis after having spent six years working on Dune.
• Villeneuve isn’t sure he’ll return to make Dune: Messiah at all and is willing to drop the franchise if he doesn’t feel like working on it.

Creating a popular, commercially successful, and globally popular movie franchise starring the strongest Hollywood actors and guaranteeing an endless stream of income for at least two decades — this sounds like any director’s dream, doesn’t it? But Denis Villeneuve, the mastermind behind the Dune movie, is just built different.

Villeneuve doesn’t want to work on Dune: Messiah now. In fact, he considers retiring.

Dune 3 Won’t Be Made Any Time Soon

If you’re anything like us, you were genuinely expecting Denis Villeneuve to keep up the current pace of the Dune movies — one movie every three years. Well, in that case, get ready for a just as genuine of a disappointment: the director doesn’t intend to jump right back into work on the franchise. He’s grown quite tired of Arrakis.

“I did [the first two] movies back-to-back, which makes absolute sense for me. I felt that it was a good idea to move forward right after Part One. We were already designing, writing, et cetera. But it also meant that for six years, I was on Arrakis non-stop, and I think it will be healthy to step back a little bit,” Villeneuve told Empire.

A healthy break is always a good idea, unless it turns into a complete exit. And this, apparently, is a possibility the director is already considering despite his success.

Dune 3 Might Have a Different Director

With the overwhelming success of the first two Dune installments, it would only make sense for him to continue his winning streak and build a lasting legacy in the sands, right? Wrong again. Denis Villeneuve isn’t sentimental: he will quit the franchise if the new screenplay doesn’t meet his criteria or Dune 3 projections are somehow low.

“If we go back, it needs to be real, it needs to be relevant. If I ever do Dune: Messiah, [it’s] because it’s going to be better than Part Two. Otherwise, I don’t do it,” the director explained.

You can’t just hook millions of people up on a new spectacular franchise and then just drop it, Mr. Villeneuve… Okay, you can. But it would not be preferable.

Fingers crossed, everybody.

Source: Empire