‘Dune: Part Three’ Moving Up Release Date By A Month Or Two?
Denis Villeneuve’s closure to his sci-fi trilogy, is reportedly expected to be releasing earlier instead of its current release date, December 18th, 2026.
Dune: Part Three is without doubt one of the most anticipated 2026 film releases for many people as after Dune and Dune: Part Two have risen to both commercial and critical success, it’s very certain that the conclusion of Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy is expected to be a very big hit and possibly also a major awards player in the 2027 Academy Awards race. The film is currently scheduled to release on the same day as another very big blockbuster, which is Avengers: Doomsday, and if Warner Bros. want to play this smart, they might want to shift the release date to another time so they can guarantee its commercial success.
But, the question here, would Dune: Part Three be as relevant in terms of awards if they happened to delay it to early 2027? Most likely not, and at the same time we’ve heard chatter about the film possibly premiering at the Venice Film Festival next year (which is around late-August to early September), according to the festival’s director, Alberto Barbera. Not only would this be huge for the festival itself, but it would be huge for the franchise too! Many people also don’t remember the fact that Dune premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021 before its wide release.
In addition to all of this, industry insider Jeff Sneider, mentioned earlier today in his newsletter that the film is expected to move up its wide release date a month or two, meaning that it could release in either October or November next year. It wouldn’t be so different from 2021 when Dune premiered at the festival and then released in theaters in October, with the latter also receiving 10 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. So its possible they’re going a The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King route with this film, meaning it could be one of the top contenders to win Best Picture.
One could predict that we’ll receive the first footage of a teaser trailer early next year, possibly attached to Wuthering Heights or Project Hail Mary, or maybe even during the Super Bowl. If anything though, 2026 will be a big year for blockbusters in general, so it would be wise moving up its release date and leaving the December 18th slot to Avengers: Doomsday, considering that this most probably wouldn’t have recreated a Barbenheimer scenario.
Dune: Part Three, based on Frank Herbert’s Dune: Messiah, stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Robert Pattinson, Jason Momoa, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin. It is also shot by La La Land & Saltburn cinematographer, Linus Sandgren, instead of Greig Fraser, who had shot the previous two films.
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