Frank Herbert’s Dune is often dubbed as the Star Wars for adults

Like The Lord of the Rings, Watchmen and American Psycho, the Frank Herbert books was always considered unadaptable and unfilmable. Villeneuve made a stunningly beautiful and impressing movie to look at! 

Dune follows and focuses on the young Paul Altreides (Timothée Chalamet) a member of House Atreides, whose family becomes trapped into the dangerous political intrigues centered on planet Arrakis, with colossal gaping-mouthed sandworms, which has been ruled with cruel force by House Harkonnen. A desert planet rich with the most important and valuable substance in the universe called spice. He who controls the spice controls the universe! 

This cinematic masterpiece, is often dubbed as the Star Wars for adults. George Lucas gave us a very entertaining and a very accessible saga, that became the cultural phenomenon. And Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), gave us an intriguing, character building, and a visually spectacular pieces of Sci-Fi cinema, not so accessible for everyone. 

Dune premiered in October 2021, both in theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max in the middle of a pandemic of the COVID-19 pandemic. The director wasn’t happy about this new streaming strategy, releasing movies on the same day as its theatrical release. 

As nowadays it’s more easier than ever to enjoy a movie at home, with streaming services and other rental options appearing more and more quickly than ever. While the comfort of watching a movie at home is convenient and tempting. Certain movies don't give us the whole experience at home. They don’t have the same impact as they do in the cinemas. 

Dune: Part One is one of those movies. The big cinema screen is perfect for catching all of the details of the big sets, the scenery, the exotic costumes, the breathtaking visuals and the amazing sound effects, that would otherwise be missed on your TV screen. The cinema experience allows you to get sucked into the world of Frank Herbert's Dune and view it as it’s meant to be. 

Despite its availability on HBO Max, Dune: Part One became a box office hit. Earning $108 million in North America, and another $402 million worldwide. However Warner Bros 2021 release strategy, was the main reason for Christopher Nolan to leave the studio in 2021 after almost 20 years. 

While Dune’s box office numbers are a good sign of its popularity. The Blu-ray and dvd sales are also an indicator of just how beloved Dune is. According to the website https://www.the-numbers.com Dune made a total estimated $20,706,808 on physical media in 2022. 

Amongst one of the best movies of the last decade. Every actor was almost perfectly cast. Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson and the supporting ensemble cast was so right, so on target, that it made the Dune work so well. The house of Atreides, Bene Gesserit (stoic women with black veils), House Harkonnen (the bad guys), its ruthless Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (Dave Bautista), and especially Baron Harkonnen portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård, are all upgrades compared to David Lynch’s 1984 Dune. 

Trivia 

In real life Timothée Chalamet was 27. As Paul, Altreides, in the novel he is meant to be just 15. 

Filming Dune took place from March to July 2019 at locations including the dessert of Jordan, Budapest, Norway, and in the United Arab Emirates. 

The body makeup for Baron Harkonnen took almost 8 hours to apply and an additional 2 hours to remove for every day of shooting. 

2,000 costumes were designed for the film. That's more than the number of costumes in Star Wars or any other sci-fi blockbuster. 

At the 94th Academy Awards, Dune won six oscars. Sound, score, editing, cinematography, visual effects, and production design. 

The fighting styles of the Harkonnens are based on Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Very efficient but not so stylised or precise. As the House of Atreides fighting style is precise and very well coordinated. 

German filmscore composer Hans Zimmer spend a week in the deserts of Utah all by himself. This to assimilate some of the sounds into his thinking for making the filmscore. For Dune he won Best Original Score at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, his first Oscar in almost 30 years.

David Lynch director of the previous Dune 1984, said in an interview that he has absolute zero interest in the new Dune movie. He cited that his issues have nothing to do with director new director Villeneuve, but more with his own painful memories of making the 1984 version. 

According to definitive Dune explainer. Dune takes place roughly 20,000 years from now, in the year 10,191. One might wonder, where’s all the great fancy advanced tech, or why aren’t there any computers in the movie? The answer is that Dune is extended far into the future, that it’s now post-advanced tech. Artificial intelligence (AI) is simply banned following humanity’s war against computerized overlords.