A lot of fans of different media franchises have butted heads in the past because of their difference in opinions. A sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s epic science fiction fantasy movie, Dune was released earlier this week and has been making a lot of headlines recently.
A few franchise fans took to social media and pitted the Dune movies against James Cameron’s magnum opus science fiction movie series, Avatar.
Denis Villeneuve opens up about working on Dune: Part Two and the future of the franchise
Dune was based on a novel of the same name by Frank Herbert which first came out in 1965. Over the years, a lot of filmmakers and directors have tried their luck to successfully bring this spellbinding piece of writing to life but almost all of them failed until Denis Villeneuve came along in 2017.
After almost three years of hard work and some delay in release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dune finally hit the theatres in 2021 and was a massive critical and commercial success at the box office. Dune even went on to win 6 Oscar Awards at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony. After the success of Dune, Denis Villeneuve started working on a sequel immediately which was released earlier this week.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Denis Villeneuve was asked about the future of the franchise. The events of the novels Dune and Dune: Messiah take place 12 years apart and the interviewer asked the director if that was the reason why the director is not in a hurry to finish the trilogy to which Villeneuve replied,
“It’s not that. I just finished Part Two very recently, and I went from Part One to Part Two without even an hour in between. I’m not complaining. I feel blessed to work, of course, but it’s just that I physically need to recover for a couple of weeks. It’s also about making sure that I have the right screenplay. I have four projects on the table, currently.”
Dune is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Fans pit Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies against James Cameron’s Avatar
James Cameron‘s Avatar movies will arguably go down in history as one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. Avatar first came out in 2009 and instantly became a massive critical and commercial success. The movie even became the highest-grossing movie of all time, a record that it still holds to date.
After the release of Dune: Part Two earlier this week, a fan of Denis Villeneuve’s movies took to X (formerly Twitter) and said, “Dune 1 and 2 is everything James Cameron wishes his Avatar movies could be“.
Dune 1 and 2 is everything James Cameron wishes his Avatar movies could be
— George Carmi (@georgecarmi) March 1, 2024
However, the fans of Avatar were not gonna let this slide so easily and presented some points in favor of James Cameron.
The Dune movies are better on balance, but they never made the big moments hit quite as much as they should imo. James Cameron made me feel more from a blue dude swimming with a whale than worm riding ever could
— Al Michael (@AlfieLe99782554) March 1, 2024
lol no
Cameron movies are full of life and favor immersion over style— Tim Soret (@timsoret) March 1, 2024
However, a lot of Denis Villeneuve fans also contributed to the conversation and argued that James Cameron’s Avatar was never able to make an immersive experience for them as Dune did.
I thought the same thing when Zendaya blew up that guy with the rocket launcher.
I thought “oh that what JC was trying to make me feel when that guys arm blew off”.
— Christian Boyd (@TheBoydWonder96) March 2, 2024
I've never understood the hype behind Avatar. It is the same story he keeps rehashing over and over again. The only reason why it broke records was the 3D tech that no one uses or cares about anymore.
— M. Brandon Lee | THIS IS TECH TODAY (@thisistechtoday) March 2, 2024
A few fans also talked about why is there a need for comparison when both the franchises have given us absolutely brilliant movies in the first place.
Avatar 1 > Dune 1
Dune 2 > Avatar 2
Both films are actually trying to push the medium forward so I’m not even sure why the comparison is necessary
— Michael Garcia (@MichaelGar93) March 1, 2024
The Dune movies are to Marvel, Star Wars, and all their blockbuster ilk what Nirvana was to hair metal.
— Ben Abramowitz (@ben_abramowitz) March 1, 2024
Dune: Part Two first premiered at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico last month and received a lot of positive reviews from fans and critics alike. A 3rd movie of the franchise will also definitely be developed to complete the story of Paul Atreidis but it may take some time as Denis Villeneuve revealed in an interview with THR.
Dune: Part Two is currently screening in theatres all across the world.
