Following a promising international rollout, which was boosted by a strong critical reception, Dune is finally set to arrive in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max next week and it sounds like fans opting for the latter will be in for an early surprise as it's been revealed that the film will go live on the streaming platform at 6:00 PM EDT on Thursday, October 21.
This is similar to what they did with The Suicide Squad back in August, which also debuted a fortnight early, but it looks like this time, Dune will actually become available to audiences an hour before it starts holding its first batch of Thursday night advance preview screenings.
While Dune has already grossed over $117.6 million globally, the controversial decision to drop it day-and-date on HBO Max will almost definitely prove to be detrimental to its box office prospects as it attempts to recoup its $165 million production budget, but fortunately, it looks like Warner Bros. will be moving forward with Dune: Part Two regardless of how the box office turns out, so that's at least a silver lining.
The film boasts an incredibly impressive cast, which includes Academy Award-nominee Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible - Fallout), Oscar Isaac (X-Men: Apocalypse), Academy Award-nominee Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame), Stellan Skarsgård (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences), Zendaya (Spider-Man: No Way Home), David Dastmalchian (nt-Man and the Wasp), Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), with Academy Award-nominee Charlotte Rampling (Assassin’s Creed), with Jason Momoa (Aquaman), and Academy Award-winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men).
In addition to directing, Villeneuve also co-wrote the script with Jon Spaihts (Doctor Strange; The Mummy) and Eric Roth (Forrest Gump; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). He's currently in the very early stages of developing Dune: Part Two.
Dune is slated to arrive simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max on October 22.