Dune has become a mega hit grossing a lot of money and gathering critical acclaim making it the perfect blockbuster. Under the steady hand of one of the best directors working today, Denis Villeneuve has made what people are already calling a modern classic.
Since Dune consists of many more books it is only natural to assume more films will follow.
Is this a good idea? Can the franchise sustain itself through multiple films spanning centuries?
I am not well enough versed in the books to comment on this convincingly, but what I can gather is that the books are decreasing in quality overall. At one point Frank Herbert’s son continued writing the books after his father’s passing. For people who like the books, the consensus is that the first book is best followed by Dune Meesai (the second one) and so on.
We all remember the disaster that was the final season of Game of Thrones. That show ran out of source material and was left to their writers to finish it, a task they were not able to do satisfactorily. In the case of Dune, You have a lot of books before running out, but at some point, you are going to run out since they don’t get published anymore.
Denis Villeneuve is probably not going to direct all of them. He seems like a guy who wants to pursue his creative callings. With Villeneuve leaving combined with a decline in the quality of the source material I can only see troubles ahead for the Dune franchise.
All franchises, no matter how powerful and popular, will inevitably run out of steam. If we examine the biggest movie franchises in the world like Marvel and Star Wars it’s clear that their popularity is rapidly falling. No king rules forever and it’s the same here. At some point, people are simply going to get tired of it. At one time Westerns were the big films everybody made. They were the superhero movies of the past, yet at some point, the hype dwindled and they stopped making them. Today westerns are a rare breed.
Dune is a relatively new cinematic player in all this and the demand for big expansive sci-fi universes might not be as big as first thought. As I understand it the books become more and more strange and trippy. I am not convinced today’s audience is ready for the strange classic sci-fi feel.
Dune is a cool universe with awesome ideas and concepts, yet some of them are sidelined or missing in the two films by Villeneuve. Dune Part 2 also concludes very differently from the book. I am all for making changes to make stronger adaptations since you can’t adapt a book 100% faithfully and I do feel Villeneuve made the right changes.
On a personal level, I am not convinced Timothée Chalamet is of the caliber of actor who can carry this kind of film. When he has to yell and have a big presence on screen he fails miserably in my opinion of course.
The last problem is not so much a problem with Dune moreso a problem with the way Hollywood turns everything into franchises. This constant franchissation stems from Marvel where everything had to lead up to the next film. There was no closure and no satisfying end to the story. Dune suffers from the same problem having part 2 end with so much plot not resolved.
The constant need for more and more movies makes it so we don’t get things ending in a good way. Consider The Empire Strikes Back. The film ends with so many things not being concluded. Yet we feel satisfied when we see Lea and Luke along with the droids looking out into space knowing the adventure is not over. However, the film and the emotional progression of the film have led it to end at that moment making for a satisfying ending.
In Dune Part 2 the 5 noble houses have just landed and Paul is on his way to talk to them. Part 3 is properly going to open with him walking straight to them. Having movies being liked together this way is a mistake due to a lack of closure. If nothing is being rapped up at all and everything just keeps going then what is actually the point of watching if I have to see the next one anyway?
We also see Chadi out afterward, we know she is out on her own now, and showing her now serves as another reminder of unresolved plot threats. Imagine if we in The Empire Strikes Back cut to Han Solo being captured before cutting the film. In that case, we would feel less satisfied with the ending.
I assume the reason Dune did this was to build a cliffhanger for the next film. However, cliffhangers only really work on TV when you know the next episode is coming in a week or so. In film, most people have forgotten the cliffhanger by the time the new film rolls out.
I do not hope Dune becomes the next Star Wars. I have seen Star Wars crumpled into something monstrous and vile. Something that was none of the original magic that made a whole generation fall in love with movies. The characters are pale imitations of their former self, a mere shadow of time long past. No one aside from delusional fans is getting excited for Star Wars anymore. After all, it’s hard to give a shit when you know they will just pump out another one in no time. I don’t want to see Dune get to this point. If they are smart they will simply make another one to finish the trilogy, but I have a feeling they would not do so. They will milk it till no one cares anymore like so many times before.