I haven’t seen Dune yet. I’ve read the first book, so I understand the scale that a story like this demands in terms of production. The legendary story of Paul Atreides is one that needs to be told with the right creative vision and the appropriate budget to avoid compromising on the source material - otherwise it risks becoming a needlessly bloated mess and fading away into obscurity. It’s a hard balance to strike.
Responsible for modern classics such as Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, Denis Villeneuve is the perfect director for Dune, capable of depicting its vast, beautiful world with the reverence it deserves. So here we are, the film proving to be a commercial and critical success with a second part set to go into production next year. It’s a relief knowing the director will be able to complete his vision without being snuffed out or having to deal with an unexpected box office bomb.
However, I feel there’s a sense of entitlement in how the film has been perceived in the zeitgeist. As you might have noticed, we’ve all been embroiled in a pandemic for the past two years, and thus the release schedule for movies and games has been thrown into disarray. No Time To Die only recently launched after a massive delay, while major production companies like Universal, Disney, and Warner Bros. have pushed back entire slates of products so they have a fighting chance of making a profit.
Who can blame them? It isn’t worth the risk of attending a film screening if you aren’t vaccinated, and there’s a strong chance of accidentally infecting others who might be vulnerable in a way that proves fatal. To their credit, film studios seem to understand this, which is why so many movies have made their way to streaming services exclusively, or have shared their cinematic release with a premium online offering. Dune is one such film, being available to watch right now on HBO Max in the US. Despite all of this, it’s still about profit and staying afloat in a world that right now is so unpredictable.
Speaking to Total Film ahead of Dune’s release, Villeneuve had this to say:
“First of all, the enemy of cinema is the pandemic. That’s the thing. We understand that the cinema industry is under tremendous pressure right now. That I get The way it happened, I’m still not happy. Frankly, to watch Dune on a television, the best way I can compare it is to drive a speedboat in your bathtub. For me, it’s ridiculous. It’s a movie that has been made as a tribute to the big-screen experience."
I understand his plight - having a project you spent years working on be changed to an on-demand release must be demoralising. Many directors view themselves as unparalleled storytellers, with cinema screens being the only way for them to express their original intent. I get that, but Dune has also cemented a position in popular culture that questions this idea of it being cinematic titan and time again. Everything fell apart when it became clear that Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya would be making their way to Fortnite as optional character skins complete with their own distinct weapons and cosmetics. Hell, there’s even a sandworm with a goofy face slapped across its head.
It removes all of the film’s drama for a quick bit of crossover profit, so surely this cheapens Dune’s intentions far more than appearing on HBO Max? Villeneuve hasn’t said a word about this. Admittedly, this is probably because it was organised between Warner Bros. and Epic Games as a reasonable way to drum up hype for the film, adding two more characters to the seemingly endless pile of licensed properties Fortnite has absorbed into its metaversical mass. Still, consumers are being demonised for avoiding the viewing of Dune in the cinemas. Other avenues are available to see it, so we have every right to take them.
These characters appearing in the battle royale isn’t a surprise, nor should Dune’s appearance on streaming services be. If I put the film on a beefy OLED display complete with a surround sound system, I’m fairly sure I could replicate the cinema experience without much trouble at all. I wouldn’t be deafened by the set pieces, and there’s no chance of some asshole loudly chewing popcorn behind me while an old lady starts snoring because she just walked into a movie that lasts for almost three hours. Dune being a worse film when not viewed in this context is an old-fashioned argument. It doesn’t hold water anymore.
HBO Max isn’t a thing in the UK, so I’ll be venturing to the cinema this weekend to enjoy Dune in a setting that Denis Villeneuve believes to be essential, but part of me wishes I could just purchase the film to watch with my friends and family at home. I love the cinema and all of the quirks that come with it, and never want them to go away, but as society progresses and streaming services become more commonplace, demanding that films only have a place on the silver screen is woefully outdated - especially when your “big-screen experience” is already in Fortnite.