Dune 2's Response Is More About Hollywood's Problems and Less About the Movie

Science-fiction nerds and IMAX enthusiasts rejoice, because Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 2 (review) has already made big waves on its opening weekend, securing a CinemaScore grade of A, a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and pulling in a global total of $178.5 million – a massive jump over its predecessor’s opening weekend gross. In fact, that’s nearly half of what the first film made in its entire run. With numbers like these and excellent reviews, it looks like Warner Bros. has a breakout sequel on its hands, and the chances of a third film happening in Villeneuve’s proposed trilogy – adapting the second book in Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi series, Dune Messiah – appear to be brighter than ever.

But amidst all the accolades, there’s a gnawing sense that whatever flaws Dune: Part 2 may possess, they’re being completely ignored in favor of many film fans already proclaiming it as one of the greatest science-fiction movies of all time, and potentially as a savior of cinema. Setting aside the irony of the movie receiving this kind of unquestioned adulation when it’s about a genetically engineered and ultimately false prophet who uses a people’s faith in him to wage a holy war on the rest of the universe, I can’t help but feel that the extreme response to Dune is only partly because of the film itself and the people who made it.

At a moment where hostility from filmgoers towards the deluge of corporate, micromanaged tentpoles is at an all-time high, Dune’s arrival as a massive-scale blockbuster project with a genuine directorial vision must have felt like the second coming. How did this happen? Let’s take a look.