Timothee Chalamet in a still from Dune: Part Two. (courtesy: dunemovie)
Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is staying in business with Hollywood studios Legendary Entertainment as it has officially given a go-ahead to Dune 3. The critically-acclaimed director and the studio are also in talks to develop the film adaptation of best-selling non-fiction book Nuclear War: A Scenario by author Annie Jacobsen apart from Dune 3, according to entertainment news outlet Deadline. Villeneuve will first work on Dune 3, which is a story based on author Frank Herbert's Dune: Messiah. The earlier two movies in the franchise, Dune: Part One (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), were based on Herbert's seminal 1965 novel Dune, about Paul Atreides whose family, the noble House Atreides, is thrust into a war for the deadly and inhospitable desert planet Arrakis.
Villeneuve has time and again expressed a desire to conclude the story of Dune with a third part, adapted from Dune: Messiah that was published in 1969. And Legendary has finally confirmed the project.
Post Dune 3, the Canadian filmmaker may work on the film adaptation of Nuclear War: A Scenario, which was optioned by Legendary soon after its publication in March this year. The book explores a ticking-clock scenario about what would happen in the event of a nuclear war, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who built the weapons and have been privy to the response plans and have been responsible for those decisions should they need to be made.
Villeneuve is currently basking in the glory of Dune: Part Two, which has raked in over USD 630 million at the worldwide box office. The movie features an ensemble cast of Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem.
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