Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is at work on his third “Dune” film throughout the back half of this year with filming having just gotten underway, and now a report at Variety has revealed a few new details about the production.
The biggest reveal is that the production is reportedly ditching the original book’s “Dune Messiah” title and instead is being listed as “Dune: Part Three” by media research/analytics company Rentrak.
That’s a surprise to some extent as the work is quite different from the prior book, Villeneuve has expressly stated this is “not like the end of a trilogy”, and that the film is also expected to have a different tone and look than the first two films which adapted Herbert’s original “Dune” novel.
The trade also indicates that while sequences will be shot with IMAX cameras, the film will NOT be entirely shot with the technology like Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” which remains the only film to date to be made that way.
Reports of the new “Dune” to be the second film to go ‘full IMAX’ originated from an interview with IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond on CNBC this week where he suggested (but didn’t explicitly state) it would be saying “He [Denis Villeneuve] is making the next ‘Dune’ – with Imax cameras, he’s filming the whole thing.”
IMAX is positioning itself as a key player in the market as recent blockbusters like “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” and “F1” have done over 20% of their opening weekend business on IMAX screens despite being than 1% of the screens available.
“Dune: Part Three” is expected to release in cinemas on December 2026.
"…on a journey into that land where we walk without footprints."
Production has begun on the next film in Denis Villeneuve's Dune trilogy.
📷 Denis Villeneuve
📍 Arrakis pic.twitter.com/JYP8ShbrRx— DUNE (@dunemovie) July 8, 2025
