As excitement builds for Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three, a new update suggests our highly anticipated return to Arrakis could be shorter than its predecessors.
While the runtime for the third Dune movie has not yet been finalised, @Cryptic4KQual reports (via SFFGazette.com) that, based on how it's currently shaping up, it will land somewhere between 2 hours and 20 minutes and 2 hours and 25 minutes. This would make Dune: Part Three the shortest instalment in Villeneuve's acclaimed sci-fi saga.
Dune: Part Two clocked in at a lengthy 2 hours and 46 minutes. The first Dune, meanwhile, ran for 2 hours and 35 minutes. A runtime in the 140-to-145-minute range would therefore represent a noticeable reduction for the concluding chapter.
Of course, movies can gain or lose several minutes during editing, particularly when visual effects and other finishing work are still underway.
Still, this reported runtime may offer an intriguing indication of how Villeneuve is adapting Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah. After two epic-scale movies, the filmmaker appears to be crafting a more streamlined third chapter. Still, 2 hours and 20 minutes is hardly short by most standards.
Avengers: Doomsday is rumoured to be close to three hours, but for those of you determined to see that and Dune: Part Three when they're released on December 18, it's now fair to say that there will be time to do so.
Villeneuve previously addressed his return to the sci-fi franchise when he said, "[As] Herbert did with Dune: Messiah, I think it’ll be a great idea to do something completely different. The story takes place like 12 years after where we left the characters at the end of Part Two."
"Their journey, their story is different this time," he continued, "and that’s why I always say that while it’s the same world it’s a new film with new circumstances."
Dune: Part Three is set nearly two decades after Paul Atreides seized control of the Imperium. Now a ruthless Emperor, Paul must face the consequences of his reign as old allies return, terrifying new threats emerge, and betrayal lurks in every shadow.
Haunted by visions of Imperial collapse and the reappearance of his long-lost love, Paul is drawn into a sweeping conspiracy, with Chani at the heart of its unfolding mystery. As rebellion brews and enemies close in, Paul must confront the true cost of power and the fate of those he loves the most.
The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Oscar nominee Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, Isaach de Bankolé, Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, and Oscar winner Javier Bardem.
Denis Villeneuve directs from a screenplay by himself and Brian K. Vaughan (this is the first chapter of the trilogy not penned by Jon Spaihts), based on the novels written by Frank Herbert.
Dune: Part Three is produced by Oscar nominees Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Villeneuve and Tanya Lapointe, and Joe Caracciolo, and executive produced by Joshua Grode, Thomas Tull, Herbert W. Gains, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Richard P. Rubinstein, John Harrison and Jessica Derhammer.
The epic conclusion to the trilogy arrives in theaters on December 18.