Dune 3 Gets Promising Update After Part Two's Success

Dune: Part Two is already making such a splash at the box office, Legendary is on board with a threequel. Over the course of its first weekend in theaters, the Denis Villeneuve picture grossed a staggering $178.5 million in cinemas. In an interview with CNBC Monday, Legendary CEO Josh Grode said if Villeneuve and his partners on the project can knock a script for Dune 3 out of the park, the production house is entirely on board with filming another entry to the franchise.

"I think this is a movie where you know the word of mouth is going to carry it," Grode told the news channel. "It is a stupendous piece of filmmaking. There's no other way to say it. I've just about run out of adjectives."

He added, "We have to have all creative stakeholders aligned and support the vision. I think everybody is very excited and really enjoying this moment and if Denis [Villeneuve] gets the script right and he feels that he can deliver another experience on par with what we've just completed then I don't see why not."

When we asked him about a third Dune film earlier this year, Villeneuve said Dune: Messiah, as the film would be called, will only get made if the script is "tremendous."

"The longest thing and the most delicate moment; as Frank Herbert said at the beginning of Dune. beginnings are very delicate times. It's like screenwriting," the filmmaker told us at the time. "Dune Messiah – which, Dune 3, the title would be Dune Messiah – we'll see the day when the screenplay will be ready and I want to make sure that there will be no compromise. It has to be tremendous. All is there to make the fantastic film, and I don't want to mess it up."

Dune: Part Two will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee. 

The big-screen epic Dune: Part Two includes Timothée Chalamet , Zendaya , Rebecca Ferguson , Josh Brolin , Austin Butler , Florence Pugh , Dave Bautista , Christopher Walken , Stephen McKinley Henderson , and Léa Seydoux , with Stellan Skarsgård , Charlotte Rampling , and Javier Bardem . Denis Villeneuve directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts based on Frank Herbert 's iconic novel.