Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two has achieved considerable success on box office. Right now, it holds a solid 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Its audience score is even better, sitting at 95%.
Dune: Part Two didn’t just attract sci-fi fans, but also general audiences. The big-budget sequel soared to the top of the box office charts. In its first weekend, the film raked in a whopping $82.5 million in North America and $182.5 million globally (via Variety), surpassing expectations.
The director has also confirmed that he’s already working on the script for the third Dune movie. This means that we might hear more concrete details from him soon. However, before moving on to the third sequel, the 56-year-old might consider focusing on three secret films.
Director Villeneuve May Prioritize Three Secret Projects Before Dune 3
After the success of Dune: Part Two, fans are already anticipating the third installment. But they need to hold on because, according to a trusted Insider, Denis Villeneuve might be working on three movies before Dune Messiah.
In his newsletter ‘InSneider,’ posted on March 8th, Jeff Sneider sheds light on the projects the French-Canadian filmmaker would consider working on. The projects are mentioned below:
Paradise Lost
In 2010, The Crow director, Alex Proyas planned to make a movie out of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The film was intended to have a budget of $120 million and revolve around a war between heaven and hell, with Bradley Cooper slated to portray Lucifer.
But the project was cancelled because it was too expensive. According to Sneider, perhaps Villeneuve could revive it, and Legendary Entertainment might be interested in co-financing it now.
The Twilight Zone
If the four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award wants to collaborate with Leonardo DiCaprio, this project could be a great opportunity. It was Leo’s favorite TV series as a kid, and he’s been working on a new movie idea for it for years.
Even Christopher Nolan has shown interest in it before. Villeneuve might want to get Nolan’s approval, but Sneider thinks he can bring something fresh to the table.
Strangers
The next film that the Sicario director could take on is Strangers on a Train. Gillian Flynn wrote the script years ago for Ben Affleck (who was supposed to star). David Fincher was going to direct it, but the project never came to fruition.
According to the insider, Villeneuve might also consider some other Fincher projects like Disney’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. This could bring him back to the vibe of his film Prisoners and give him a chance to collaborate with Affleck.
Dune Messiah – What We Know So Far
Herbert wrote six Dune books, and his son Brian Herbert continued the series with more stories in the same universe. Although it’s doubtful we’ll see adaptations of all the books, Denis Villeneuve has expressed a strong desire to adapt Dune Messiah as the final part of his trilogy featuring Timothée Chalamet‘s Paul Atreides.
Dune 3 is set 12 years after the events of Dune, and Villeneuve plans to utilize this time gap to age up his characters accordingly (via The Wrap). The Gentilly native told Vanity Fair:
“The screenplay’s in progress. I’m very happy where it’s going, but it’s not finished, and I don’t know how healthy it’ll be to go straight to ‘Messiah’ right away. It would be healthy to do something in between.”
The filmmaker intends to ensure that the script for Dune 3 is of high quality moving forward. He wants the third movie to be even better than Part Two.
Dune: Part Two is currently screening in theatres.
