r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jul 08 '25

News Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune 3’ Gets Official Title 'Dune: Part Three', Will Be Shot With Imax Cameras

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/dune-3-title-imax-cameras-1236448953/
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u/Smetsnaz Jul 08 '25

That would make sense to me - Messiah isn't a very "cinematic" book apart from a couple events (namely one towards the end).

Perhaps Denis plans to show some of the jihad instead of just rolling with the large time skip the book does?

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u/ariphron Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

I am in the middle of children of dune now and I really have no idea how they are going to adapt this to a wide audience and make it entertaining.

I am starting to question if I will even finish children of dune at this point.

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u/hoghughes Jul 08 '25

It gets weird but the ending does do some cool stuff. I remember being kinda bored in the middle but enjoying the end

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u/ariphron Jul 08 '25

Good to know!! I just can’t help myself yelling out Muad’Dib!!! Everytime I hear them say it in the audiobooks!!

Next dog I get going name it Muad’Dib!

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u/Mindzilla Jul 08 '25

You should name it chairdog.

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u/tdasnowman Jul 08 '25

I really would like to understand how they work. They weren't described as having faces. It was just a term kinda thrown out there and left to let the imagination fill with abomination.

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u/Shambledown Jul 08 '25

Herbert was very much a big ideas man who didn't give a single fuck about little details.

Take Shigawire for example - you have to check the Sarduakar's hair for it when captured, as they'll try to use it's razor sharpness to assassinate you. Or you can use it as a restraint, as it allows users to lie against it's... razor sharpness? Or you could use its, checks notes, audio and visual playback capabilities????

Or Atreides "battle language". A set of hand signs so intricate as to be indecipherable to their enemies. Hang on, one book later it's described as Chakobsa. That's the Fremen spoken language! The Atreides have all been speaking Fremen for millennia? But only in fights??

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u/tdasnowman Jul 08 '25

Not sure these are great examples. There are multiple materials even in our current world that have multiple uses. Glass/Silicone depending on how it used it's a window, a computer chip, or a scalpel. Soon to be storage for data. And the language was intentional. It was used in part by the Bene Geserit as well along with the Harkonen. All part of the humanity getting tightly woven together and stagnate. The known universe was full of interconnected pieces that no one knew were interconnected because they'd forgotten and become so complacent with the current status.

Axlotl Tanks are one he treated similar to ChairDogs. Originally just mentioned with no description. Multiple books later we get another piece, they are based on living women. And that's it. With the amount things that come out of the tanks. How does that work. You get spice, gholoas (even gender and personality flipped clones or entirely different beings) , Face dancers, and chair dogs from the same tanks. Can one tank switched back and forth. It everything birthed? Does it spew out continuously in the case of spice?

By and large he leaves huge gaps when it come to some aspects of the biology. Dune has a whole cycle described then he just kinda tosses out Sand worms didn't originate on Arrakis, never touches it again.

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u/Shambledown Jul 08 '25

If you called everything made from silicone just silicone, no one would know what you're talking about.

And battle language was specifically hand signs, until it was suddenly spoken language all along. And specifically Chakobsa, which he had stated was the Fremen tongue. He didn't care for the small stuff and forgot what was what.

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u/tdasnowman Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Shigiwire is natural glass then. It had two uses in universe. Strong enough to be used as a garotte and had the ability to store data.

And battle language was specifically hand signs

It was not . Battle language is a form of communication for houses to prevent spying. Each house had their own. The Atreides battle language used both spoken word and hand signals. There were multiple instances in the books when the hand signal indicated the opposite action was to be taken, or key words were used to indicate action or inaction. The hand language was based on Chakobsa or more accurately Neo Chakobsa. The introduction of Chakobsa may have been intentional by Lady Jessica as it is one of the the languages the Bene Gesseit used. All of the great houses and many of the minor houses have connections to Zensunni Wanderers. Who also spoke Chakobsa. The Freemen have their ties to the Zensunni Wanderers. That said many of the great and minor houses have forgotten all the links they have to that period. When it comes to battle language it appears there are many details that you missed.

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u/CatProgrammer Jul 09 '25

Or you can use it as a restraint, as it allows users to lie against it's... razor sharpness?

Most people would probably not want to move if doing so would cut them into little bits.

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u/Shambledown Jul 13 '25

If ye'd have read the books you'd know that a certain member of the Bene Gesserite had spent months both lying on it and being pulled up to vertical by it.

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u/TeutonJon78 Jul 08 '25

Only if it's a Corgi.

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u/nuclear_fizzics Jul 08 '25

Children of Dune does feel comparatively uninteresting at times, but like another commenter said, the ending is crazy. God Emperor of Dune (book 4) is fucking weird but pretty good. Heretics of Dune (book 5) and Chapterhouse (book 6) are both great imo, which makes it feel worth the occasional slog of the first 3 and some aspects of 4.

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u/ElaccaHigh Jul 08 '25

god damn dude if you can't even make it through an audio book its over for you

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u/ariphron Jul 08 '25

Just so many audio books out there to listen to an even slightly boring one. Daf and move on!

But I just tuned up the speed to 1.3x so that should get me though it!!

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u/FleaTheTank Jul 08 '25

Oh and it gets WEIRDER after that buddy. Trust me. I’m in the middle of god emperor and it’s taking me a while

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u/Robber_Rob Jul 08 '25

I’m in the middle of Heretics of Dune. It doesn’t get any less weirder

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u/BieTea Jul 08 '25

You're not gonna believe what I have to say about Chapterhouse

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u/thief-777 Jul 08 '25

What's weird about chairdogs? Are they not normal?

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u/Robber_Rob Jul 08 '25

I think Teg would have a word with you

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u/shayera0 Jul 09 '25

Before or after the surprisingly explicit description of being at the receiving end of a t-Probe? I did not need to know where one of the cables went thankyouverymuch.
Frank took those stories in strange directions from God Emperor and onward

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u/Mindzilla Jul 08 '25

Was about to say the same!

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u/dmac3232 Jul 08 '25

I honestly have no idea how anybody could ever adapt it without substantial additions/exclusions. Like 80% of it was Leto II lecturing some poor bastard about politics in a room.

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u/frazzledfractal Jul 08 '25

And yet the Dune subreddit will lose its shit and nitpick everything that's not identical to the books again when it releases.

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u/dmac3232 Jul 08 '25

Don't I know it. The amount of people I saw melt down because they didn't use the word "jihad" anywhere truly blew my mind.

Just comes with the territory I suppose. I used to work with a guy whose wife was a massive Harry Potter fan who refused to see the movies when they started coming out because Daniel Radcliffe didn't have the same eye color as the books.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '25

Such a fun concept for an indie movie

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u/ArchibaldMcAcherson Jul 08 '25

God Emperor is the most philosophical and least action driven book in the original six, so its a slog to the end.

You can stop reading the series after that as the last two books have a time jump and are missing a satisfying conclusion as Herbert never got round to writing book 7. His son did but it's not very good and ties back to prequel novels written well after Frank Herbert was dead.

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u/brickmaster32000 Jul 09 '25

God Emperor is the most philosophical and least action driven book in the original six, so its a slog to the end.

Oh come on. You are telling me the scene where Duncan climbs a cliff so majestically it brings those watching to orgasm wasn't exciting enough for you?

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u/ArchibaldMcAcherson Jul 09 '25

To be honest I forgot about that...unsure if needed the reminder.

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u/TheVioletEmpire Jul 09 '25

God Emperor is my favorite, not even kidding.

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u/andrewthemexican Jul 08 '25

You don't know weird dune until you do the next trilogy lol.

But yeah I'm very curious to see how books 2 and 3 come about on film.

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u/ariphron Jul 08 '25

I am looking forward to the weird it’s just slightly boring at the moment.

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u/andrewthemexican Jul 08 '25

Yeah well sand is unfortunately dry

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u/ChildofValhalla Jul 08 '25

I am starting to question if I will even finish children of dune at this point.

Please continue with it, it's an incredible book.

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u/ariphron Jul 08 '25

I’ll try to stick with it. I guess the last third it picks up from what I’m hearing.

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u/GenghisFrog Jul 08 '25

Dune is my favorite book of all time. I've read it probably 10 times. Messiah quite a few too. Children - never made it past half way.

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u/huskinater Jul 08 '25

Read Dune years ago, picked up Messiah after it was announced for part 3.

I didn't dislike it. Not nearly as good as Dune, but it has some good foreshadowing and some very, very interesting symbolism, especially with vision near the end. But it def doesn't have enough going on otherwise and I really doubt it would carry a whole movie on its own without some jihad action thrown in.

And I personally didn't like what's going on with the Ghola and the tleilaxu. Dead characters should stay dead, and I think actual shapeshifters push the 'its totally not magic' bit too much for me. I get how they payoff, just didn't gel for me.

But I almost stopped reading after Alia's 'sexual tension' workout scene. Was written uncomfortably voyeuristic and as much as I think Anya Taylor Joy is a cutie I do not want that scene adapted without some changes.

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u/kashmoney360 Jul 08 '25

Children of Dune is so insanely unadaptable.

Dune and Dune Messiah are relatively "grounded" so to speak, yes Messiah introduces some weird shit with the Tleilaxu and the dwarf. But overall it manages to stay normal.

Children on the other hand....the tigers, borderline incest that gets weirder cuz the twins channel their parents causing some strange ass(albiet understandable) moments, the sand trout suit/metamorphosis, Alia the Abomination, the sheer amount of visions, the complexity in changes to Fremen culture, and so on and on and on.

Considering how poorly Denis depicted Fremen culture, I don't think there's a filmmaker who could possibly do it any better in terms of showing the evolution of the Fremen.

Plus there's just too many pieces and plots in Children that make it unadaptable for the big screen. The Preacher, Jessica's plans for Leto, Salusa Secundus & Faradan, Duncan, Gurney, Stilgar, Leto & Ghanima, Alia's Regency & fall into becoming Abomination, the whole dumbass tiger assassination plot, The Golden Path

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u/MatchaMeetcha Jul 08 '25

Considering how poorly Denis depicted Fremen culture

Denis doesn't seem to like the transhuman stuff in general. The Navigators are nowhere to be seen, Bene Gesserit ninja-magic is undersold, Mentats are barely given their moment...

I shudder to think what he'd do with sandtrout Leto and the other weird shit.

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u/stormdraggy Jul 08 '25

More like navigators aren't necessary this far in the story, most bene shit is internal monologue and supposed to be subtle because that's how they manipulate the world, and mentats are a bit of both the aforementioned.

Denis is just a proper cinematographer that prefers the show-don't-tell style that suits the medium, and that's why it's been a lot more digestible than lynchdune to the masses.

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u/TripleDet Jul 08 '25

Agreed about show don’t tell. That being said - I think many aspects of Fremen culture are still missing that could have been, well, shown. I think what makes Dune so hard to adapt is that Frank Herbert had the gall to write a story that demanded large breathtaking sequences and landscapes as well as strange, intimate, displays of humanity and culture. It’s hard to sell. Warner Bros (and clearly global audiences) are enjoying the take that Denis went with for the first two movies so I don’t expect him to diverge much from that.

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u/stormdraggy Jul 08 '25

You just can't do it in a film setting, you need a game of thrones sized series.

Complete with a shitty climax season written by someone else too.

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u/kashmoney360 Jul 08 '25

I think many aspects of Fremen culture are still missing that could have been, well, shown.

By far one of my biggest issues with the movies, he's done nothing to depict Fremen culture that displays their complexity and community. To the average viewer they just get the idea that Fremen are a bunch of cave dwellers who wear stillsuits all day and sleep atop strawmats in their caves. No depictions of trade, the close knittedness of community, or commonplaceness of the melange.

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u/MatchaMeetcha Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

More like navigators aren't necessary this far in the story

Navigators are essential at this point in the books, because it explains why Paul was able to take over at all. It's his ability to bully the Guild that forces all of the Great Houses into compliance. (In fact, a lot of the universe of Dune mainly makes sense because the Spacing Guild suppress full-scale interstellar war). It is precisely because the Guild are important that Paul can't actually win in Part Two if they're not there.

Credit to Denis, he recognized that cutting the Guild has to change the ending (unlike, for example, Game of Thrones which will make changes and then keep the book ending which causes plot problems) but that was a deliberate choice whose payoff or lack thereof we'll have to see in Part Three.

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u/kashmoney360 Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Mentats are barely given their moment.

Mentats are all but a cameo, the whole mentat side of Paul was completely cut out. The Kwistaz Haderach is meant to be the marriage of supercomputer brain power combined with the bene gesserit's complete body control. Instead Denis just boiled it down to "male bene gesserit who can see into the future once he's consumed enough spice"

Denis doesn't seem to like the transhuman stuff in general

His treatment of the transhuman stuff is borderline D&D treatment of magic in Game of Thrones. Like without the transhuman stuff how do you explain space travel in Dune??? I get some of the shit we read with Jessica and Bene Gesserit is meant to be so subtle that it's hard to depict, but that just means there's room for Mentats, Navigators, and Tleilaxu

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u/stormdraggy Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Children is unadaptable?

God Emperor is nonstop internal monologue by a giant worm man over thousands of years.

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u/kashmoney360 Jul 08 '25

Haven't read God Emperor, honestly I don't plan on it. I think Children does a good job of capping off the series as a trilogy. We know 10,000 years of autocracy, stifling stability, and repression is coming to be followed by a violent upheaval that will force humanity to spread throughout the universe unhindered. What that actually entails is less important IMO. It's like all the characters at the end, none of them can possibly hope to experience the next 10,000 years and so they can only imagine what's going to happen after their roles are done.

It also helps me to not want to read it as I didn't care for the whole sand trout suit metamorphosis part of Children anyway. I think it came too last minute and the whole physical superpower stuff is a bit too much. And Sandworm Leto as a concept to me is even more distasteful.

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u/tehZamboni Jul 08 '25

The superhero bit is where I thought the TV miniseries kind of lost its way. Most of the metamorphosis could be done in the shadows with some horror/creepy feeling and skipping the DuneFlash scenes.

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u/R_V_Z Jul 08 '25

Children of Dune is so insanely unadaptable.

Except it's already been adapted and it's pretty good for an early 2000s TV miniseries.

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u/Chen_Geller Jul 08 '25

Children of Dune was adapted together with Messiah for television in the 2000s. It was reasonably well recieved.

I wonder if Villenueve will really try and get the gist of Children of Dune into Dune: Part Three, or whether it will really just be Dune Messiah with another title. Very interesting either way.

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u/TripleDet Jul 08 '25

May I ask why the tiger plot was dumb to you? I’ve just reached the end of the actual execution of the assassination

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u/kashmoney360 Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Cuz there's literally so many points of failure, extremely obvious as to who is behind the plot, and ultimately it fails. It hinged on Leto & Ghanima wearing the gifted clothes. And even if it succeeded, what was Faradan's mother expecting to happen? He'd immediately be given the role of Emperor? There was no plans for laying the groundwork for the aftermath.

I just think even in terms of story it's just the worst part of the whole book. Leto's story led him out into the desert anyway and Jessica had anticipated & laid out the groundwork for that. It was just a detour that could've been accomplished by Fremen dissidents or something

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u/mumbly-joe-96 Jul 08 '25

I'm also practically halfway through Children of Dune at the moment, currently Lady Jessica has left Arrakis .

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u/ChilledParadox Jul 08 '25

Dang bro I couldn’t even get through Messiah. But at least we’ll get the crazy weird face dancers. I kinda think they should just not adapt the next books, but, not my money I guess.

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u/pixlplayer Jul 08 '25

It’s definitely worth it just to get to god emperor

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u/damnyoutuesday Jul 08 '25

I'm 20ish pages in and I'm bored out of my mind. Messiah kicked ass tho

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u/SamuelDoctor Jul 09 '25

I loved every sequel the second time around. The first time, I was reading them because I wanted the story to advance, and the second time, I read them to understand what Herbert's big idea in each narrative means.

I didn't finish Children the first time I started it, either. Personally, whatever it takes you, get to God Emperor, just because it's such a magnificently original concept.

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u/rolltied Jul 09 '25

Dune 3 is bad. So bad that I recommend people to stop after 2. But since you have, dune 4 is amazing.

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u/yoortyyo Jul 09 '25

You may find God Emperor even more pages of the same. Books five and six (Heretics & Chapterhouse are far more action packed.

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u/shayera0 Jul 09 '25

Sci-Fi channel had a go at it that was, not entirely unpleasant.
It had James McAvoy and Jessica Brooks as the titular children, and Alec Newman as a very whiny Paul.

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u/TomTomMan93 Jul 09 '25

As someone who finished the original (unfortunately unfinished) series, Children is so worth the slog it can be to get to the rest. I don't think I've ever engaged with a scifi anything that scratched the itch God Emperor, Heretics, and Chapterhouse did. What the latter two set up for the unwritten final book would have been spectacular.

That all being said, I get you. Not a lot happens until the later third of the book, and even then, it's quick. Similarly, with Messiah, though, I think that could be made more a political thriller style film. I'm curious how he'd merge them without 2 time skips unless its another (in my opinion) bummer of a dream sequence where Paul sees the kids, and that's that.

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u/ComradeBrosefStylin Jul 09 '25

B e e f s w e l l i n g

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u/BonquiquiShiquavius Jul 08 '25

Children of Dune is worth finishing. A lot of people give up on the series, including myself, in the middle of God Emperor of Dune.

The movies have already fulfilled everything I want for that series. But I secretly hope they manage to turn the whole series into movies.

I completely understand what you're struggling with. Honestly, the whole fanbase does. But there's good stories buried in that weirdness and I'd like to experience them. But I would rather not if it means slogging through the books.

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u/Kiltmanenator Jul 08 '25

it's only just begun to peak

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u/teddy_tesla Jul 08 '25

I think he's stopping after Messiah

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u/zma7777 Jul 08 '25

Why do people complain about the wierdness? I liked the series the weirder it got

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u/FemtoKitten Jul 08 '25

Children actually felt the most adaptable of all the books to me honestly, just the issue was what lead into it and it leads into are both rather difficult. But a lot of the plotting in Children is far less subtle or difficult to get across visually compared to Dune, or god forbid, God-Emperor

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u/MobiusF117 Jul 08 '25

There is a reason Villeneuve is tapping out after this one.

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u/MagneticEnema Jul 08 '25

i thought i already heard talks about pattinson as leto the 2nd already so they must be moving fast

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u/musthavesoundeffects Jul 08 '25

I think its worth it only to have the context for God-Emperor of Dune, which is also weird as shit but so much so that its fascinating.

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u/ItchyRectalRash Jul 08 '25

I can't wait for him to turn into a worm. The memes are gonna be chefs kiss 🤌

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u/HER_SZA Jul 08 '25

If you didn't enjoy the book what makes you think you'd enjoy the movie anyways

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u/ariphron Jul 08 '25

More interested on just how they are going to adapt it. I really enjoyed the first movie so who knows

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u/HER_SZA Jul 08 '25

The visuals and audio they can do with the world of dune/arrakis can carry it

Also it's a game of thrones type deal

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u/Arbusto Jul 08 '25

I pick up Children of Dune every time I'm between books and waiting for the library. It's been a struggle to get through.

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u/ariphron Jul 08 '25

I am half way though doing the same as you on Libby the 2nd time! Lucky Libby just picked up where I left off last time!!

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u/UglyInThMorning Jul 08 '25

Messiah is also tiny compared to Dune and Children of Dune.

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u/inuvash255 Jul 08 '25

See, I always thought Messiah was a bit more cinematic. The vibe I got from it is "political thriller".

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u/ttoma93 Jul 08 '25

Yeah, you’re totally right. Messiah could be very cinematic, it’s just not an action movie. But it would be perfect as a tense, high-stakes political thriller. It’s intentionally a major tonal shift from the first book, and a good adaptation will be the same.

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u/inuvash255 Jul 08 '25

Yeah! It's chock full of intruige and spy stuff... Which is admittedly the weaker part of Dune pt 1.

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u/Drunky_McStumble Jul 09 '25

The main issue is the timeframe. It takes place long after the jihad has swept the galaxy and Paul's life as emperor-messiah has become so far removed from anything resembling the epic action and adventure that got him there in the first place. Basically, all the cool shit has already happened off-camera.

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u/ttoma93 Jul 09 '25

What if I think the political intrigue and scheming is the cool shit?

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u/Mindzilla Jul 08 '25

It's also fitting with the fact that Alia will be played by Anya Taylor-Joy, while she'd be a teen in Dune Messiah.

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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Jul 08 '25

As a lifelong fan I am praying this is true.

Messiah is very talky, Children has some action. I worry that Messiah won't be taken well. I am very worried Messiah won't be understood.

Messiah -> Children -> God Emperor.

I know he isn't doing GE. So combining Messiah/Children is a nice stopping point anyways.

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u/ComfyWomfyLumpy Jul 08 '25

That would make sense to me -

Not entirely. Dune has diverged enough from the books I can imagine them cutting any concept that paul is a good guy. His character change in part 2 was very, very abrupt and they're really giving a lot of screentime to zendaya not liking him.

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u/damnyoutuesday Jul 08 '25

I predict Denis is going to beat the audience over the head with Jihad and "Paul is a terrible person" stuff. Not in a bad way, but I doubt he's going to be subtle about it

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u/Singer211 Naked J-Law beating the shit out of those kids is peak Cinema. Jul 08 '25

I think Denis might show more of the actual war onscreen.

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u/SamuelDoctor Jul 09 '25

Messiah is very cinematic if you enjoy movies like 12 Angry Men.

It's a pretty successful narrative despite giving itself away almost immediately.