In less than two months, Dune: Part Three will be in theaters. That a film trilogy has begun and ended in five years feels like a feat these days, but if there’s one thing Denis Villeneuve’s franchise has shown, it’s that when things go right, audiences are more than willing to show up for that occasion.

Villeneuve helmed the first screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel since the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries, and the first film since David Lynch’s go in 1984. There’ve been more failed attempts at bringing the book to film than have actually come out, with Paramount trying in the mid-2000s before dropping out in 2011. Legendary acquired the rights to Dune in 2016 and the Canadian director landing the gig shortly after.

Villeneuve’s plan was to split the first book into two movies, which ended up being one of the few things that went as intended, since the pandemic pushed Dune: Part One ‘s release date back a few times. When it finally came out on October 22, 2021, it was part of WB’s dual theatrical-streaming release plan, which didn’t please any filmmaker. ) Any chance of a sequel depended entirely on this first movie, so it must’ve been a pleasant surprise to see audiences show up for it in both ways: at $411 million worldwide, it was 2021’s 10th highest-grossing film, and its ninth-most streamed . Not gigantic numbers, but impressive and acceptable, especially since Villeneuve was vindicated after it was leaked days before its intended release.

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