As we reported back in July, Warner Bros. have made good on the rumours swirling around industry circles and officially set a new release date for Dune: Part Two – the sci-fi sequel previously slated for a 3 November debut.
Audiences’ next trip to Arrakis will now have to wait until 15 March 2024, replacing Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire, previously slated for 14 March. The titan team-up has been pushed back to 12 April.
With a star-studded (and suitably young and trendy) cast including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler and Florence Pugh, Warner Bros. have clearly been spooked out of their November release by the SAG-AFTRA strike action, which would prevent any of those stars from giving interviews to promote the film.
Though cinemas have had a barn-storming couple of months, with the ‘Barbenheimer' phenomenon rescuing previously lackluster box office yields, the increasing number of delays to some of the autumn’s biggest releases isn’t great news for the beleaguered industry. Sony Pictures have already moved comic-book movie Kraven the Hunter and an unnamed Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel into 2024, while Zendaya’s Luca Guadagnino tennis drama Challengers has also jumped ship.
According to Variety, Warner Bros. has also considered moving The Color Purple and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, both of which are due out this December, though for now it seems they’re happy to keep a festive release window in place.
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The Dune: Part Two delay could have a sizeable impact on the film’s award season chances. The first Dune film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards for the 2022 ceremony, winning six, and the season generally favours films with a release date towards the end of the year – which its original date would have achieved nicely.
Dune made $402 million in its cinematic run back in 2021, and was the 4th-highest grossing film in the UK in a year still struggling to fully recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
