The Dune sequel is arriving a little early.
Hours after Disney pushed back the Marvel Studios pic Blade from its November 2023 release date, Warner Bros. revealed it will now open Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two will on Blade‘s old date of Nov. 3, 2023, instead of Nov. 17, 2023.
From Legendary Pictures in partnership with Warners, the Dune sequel will star Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Christopher Walken and Javier Bardem. Producers are Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Villeneuve and Tanya LaPointe.
The sequel tackles the second half of Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel Dune, with Paul Atreides (Chalamet) teaming with the Fremen to free the desert planet of Arrakis from House Harkonnen.
New characters include Emperor Shaddam IV (Walken), the ruler who sent the Atreides family to Dune; the emperor’s daughter, Princess Irulan (Pugh); and Feyd-Rautha (Butler) the nephew of the baron, the villain played by Stellan Skarsgard in the first installment.
The first Dune performed well at the box office, considering it faced the COVID-19 crisis and hit theaters and HBO Max day-and-date in October 2021. The sci-pic grossed north of $400 million globally and won six Oscars.
