Dune 3 Development Teased Following the Box Office Success of Dune 2

The sci-fi epic Dune 2 is coming off of a massive $82.5 million opening weekend and, following that box office supremacy, a recent update about the third film sounds especially promising. During an interview with CNBC, Legendary CEO Josh Grode expressed that if director Denis Villeneuve and his team write a great script for Dune 3, aka Dune Messiah, they’re completely on board with continuing the franchise.

A month before Part Two’s release, Zendaya, who plays Chani in the film, also said she would be more than ready to return for a third installment but only wants to do it when Villeneuve is ready to get it done.

“Would we be down? I mean of course. Any time Denis calls it’s a yes from me. I’m excited to see what happens. I started ‘Messiah’ and I was like, ‘Woah, I’m only shooting the first movie. Let me just go back to the first one.’ It’s so much to take in, but there’s no better hands with better care and love for it then Denis. I’m just excited to see…It’s just anticipation. Whenever he is ready. He’s a perfectionist in many ways and doesn’t want to share things until they’re ready. So I’m respecting that and waiting until he’s ready.”

Denis Villeneuve Doesn’t Want to Rush Making a Third Dune Film

Villeneuve spoke about the notion of Dune 3 earlier this year. The project would be adapting Dune Messiah, the second in Frank Herbert’s Dune series of six novels. The director said at the time that the only way the film would be made by him is if the script was “tremendous.”

“The longest thing and the most delicate moment; as Frank Herbert said at the beginning of Dune. Beginnings are very delicate times. It’s like screenwriting. Dune Messiah, which, Dune 3, the title would be Dune Messiah, we’ll see the day when the screenplay will be ready, and I want to make sure that there will be no compromise. It has to be tremendous. All is there to make the fantastic film, and I don’t want to mess it up.”

Dune: Part Two gave the box office much needed life over the weekend when it debuted to a domestic opening of $82.5 million and a global start of $182.5 million. The film received an “A” CinemaScore from opening day audiences, which paired nicely with its 93 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and an even more robust 95 percent audience score on the site. Word of mouth is expected to carry the film in the coming weeks as pre-sales for IMAX showings continue to be strong, and the movie has made major strides with younger audiences as well.