Legendary Entertainment Acquires Rights To Make ‘Dune’ Movie and TV Series

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Quote

LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO FRANK HERBERT’S CLASSIC SCI-FI NOVEL DUNE

Burbank, CA – November 21, 2016 – Legendary and the Frank Herbert estate have reached an agreement granting the production entity the film and television motion picture rights to the beloved novel DUNE, one of the most revered science fiction novels of all time. The agreement calls for the development and production of possible film and television projects for a global audience. The projects would be produced by Thomas Tull, Mary Parent and Cale Boyter, with Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert serving as executive producers.

Set in the distant future, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides whose family accepts control of the desert planet Arrakis. As the only producer of a highly valuable resource, control of Arrakis is highly contested among the noble families. After Paul and his family are betrayed, the story explores themes of politics, religion, and man’s relationship to nature as Paul leads a rebellion to restore his family’s control of Arrakis.

Dune has long been considered the crown jewel of science fiction properties. Its legacy and influence is witnessed in everything from STAR WARS to THE MATRIX and often referred to as the science fiction version of LORD OF THE RINGS with its sprawling world and multi-dimensional politics.

The agreement was negotiated by Mike Ross and Jen Grazier on behalf of Legendary and Marcy Morris and Barry Tyerman of JTWAMMK on behalf of the Herbert family.

http://www.slashfilm.com/legendarys-dune-movie/

Quote

David Lynch originally brought Frank Herbert’s classic to the big screen in 1984. The film has become a cult favorite in recent years despite the polarized response to the movie, often described as incomprehensible to those who had not read the book series, yet different enough to piss off fans of the source material. Dune has a tremendous legacy and influence on science fiction movies, notably Star Wars and The Matrix.

John Harrison later adapted the book for a 2000 sci-fi channel miniseries. A decade or so ago, Paramount tried to bring the property back to the big screen with director Peter Berg. That filmmaker later dropped out of the project, citing that it wouldn’t be the right film for him. He was replaced with Pierre Morel, but that filmmaker also left the project, and it fell into development hell.

In September, Arrival/Blade Runner 2029 director Denis Villeneuve expressed an interest in directing a remake to Dune. I wonder if he might be involved somehow.

 

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

Not sure what I think about this. Dune is an incredible franchise potentially, but has so far not really been done justice. I love the visuals of Lynch's version, and the tv series was a decent attempt at telling the story even if it looked crappy. 

Seems to me that since its Legendary it will almost certainly be a series of movies, which could go either way. They have a mixed record, but some of their releases at least give me hope it might be well done.

[MercenaryChef]

I am very optimistic and excited about this. 

Dune is a favorite of mine and has long deserved being adapted to screen properly.

 

[matt b]

I just want to see a movie/TV version where the spice isn't treated like a magic teleportation device.

[williamjm]

13 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Seems to me that since its Legendary it will almost certainly be a series of movies, which could go either way. They have a mixed record, but some of their releases at least give me hope it might be well done.

I do worry about the movies idea because you have to lose a lot of material from the first book to make it fit into a film's run-time (Lynch tried to get around this by adding lots of exposition, but I don't think it worked well) and I'm not sure splitting into two films would work well either. For all its obvious budgetary limitations I think the Sci-Fi mini-series showed television was better suited for doing justice to the story.

[SerHaHa]

I hope it becomes a TV series as opposed to a film.  It seems TV is overtaking film in terms of storytelling potential these days, and Dune is just too big to do as a 2-3hr film again.  The 2000 series Dune on SciFi as well as the Children of Dune follow up were some of the highest rated shows they've ever had, the fan base is there IMO, still. 

With new CGI tech, and some great new actors available, I think a relaunch of the Dune storyline couldn't come at a better time.

[Calibandar]

I'd be very happy with both a TV series or film, and maybe even both.

I've long wondered when we would finally see this in a new version.

[Fez]

If The Hobbit could be 3 films, Dune easily could as well. There's even pretty natural breaking points:

Movie 1: Ends with the Harokonnens retaking the planet, Leto's suicide, etc.

Movie 2: Ends with Paul and the Freman having so much success raiding that the Emperor comes to Dune.

Movie 3: Ends with Paul taking the throne.

[Rhom]

On ‎11‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 7:58 AM, Fez said:

If The Hobbit could be 3 films, Dune easily could as well. There's even pretty natural breaking points:

Movie 1: Ends with the Harokonnens retaking the planet, Leto's suicide, etc.

Movie 2: Ends with Paul and the Freman having so much success raiding that the Emperor comes to Dune.

Movie 3: Ends with Paul taking the throne.

Its funny you say that, because I first read Dune probably about 8 years ago.  When reading the first book, I couldn't help but think that if it had been written in contemporary times it most definitely would have been at least a Trilogy.