August 31st, 2007 -- Written by John Campea
As great and wonderful and awe inspiring DUNE the book was… the movie adaptation equalled it in the opposite characteristics of lameness. David Lynch’s 1984 version of Dune was probably one of the worst Sci-Fi films I’ve ever seen. About 2 years ago I watched it again think that maybe I just didn’t remember it right…. nope… I remembered it perfectly. That movie just sucks.
Now, fast forward a bit… a few years ago the Sci-Fi channel put out a DUNE adaptation, but instead of making it a one shot movie, they made it a mini series (with William Hurt), and I just LOVED it. A much truer, vibrant, mythology exploring version of the DUNE vision that Lynch’s work (to be fair to Lynch, how on earth you do justice to DUNE in just one movie really is a tall order).
But now according to our friends over at Filmjunk, it appears that DUNE may be coming to the big screen yet again:
Byron Merritt (the admin of the Dune Novel forums) has been reporting that a studio and director are close to finalizing a deal for another Dune feature film. How would he know? Well, he also just happens to be Frank Herbert’s grandson. There’s no word yet on who the interested parties are, but I sure hope it’s someone big.
With an updated budget and effects (the worms could look just fantastic) I’d welcome seeing a new DUNE attempt… BUT… the same problem that existed with Lynch’s version still exists today. The DUNE story is just too big. Too much history and mythology. Too many characters of significance and importance. You just can’t do a decent DUNE story in the span of 2 hours. So how would they get around this?
The only way to do this right is to split it up into at least 2 movies. The problem is, I really don’t think any studio will invest or risk 2 full movie commitments on a project like DUNE since there is no guarantee it’ll find a large enough audience. So I just don’t think this will happen.
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” I remembered your Gom Jabbar; now you will remember mine!”
I could not be so far on the other edge of the spice planet with you, Gio. I LOVED David Lynch’s Dune. To me, it didn’t suck at all. Did I get the toys? eh, no. I had to draw the line somewhere, I suppose. If you saw it on TV, Lynch was unhappy with the extended cut he invoked the name of Smithee (I actually didn’t mind the extended cut)
I HATED, with an extreme hate-on, the Sci-fI channel miniseries, as well as the follow up, ‘Children Of Dune’, even more.
But it is all irrelavent. Why?
Because someone wants a pointless redo, that’s why.
Something wrong with starting out with ‘Dune Messiah’?
Hated the Sci-Fi mini-series Dune and Children of Dune? Are you on drugs? I love the Lynch film as well, but seeing a fresh take on the story, and seeing Children done as a mini-series with some actors that could actually act, it was good, NO GREAT!!! I really enjoyed the use of Brian Tyler’s music which actually got several of the peopleI watched it with to tear up when Chani died….
So bring the remake!
I agree that it’s difficult o get a go ahead and a huge budget to do this movie, scifi is a very risky genre so probably it won’t happen.
Oh and you are completely wrong about the first Dune movie is one of the greatest scifi movies, I concede that it may not be faithful to the books that I haven’t read, but it’s a great movie.
John, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. I will admit that Lynch can be an aquired taste. But it’s a bit harsh to mark this film as “sucks”.
Visually the movie is breathtaking. There are some major great performaces in the film. Sting, and Shawn Young (yummy - when she was younger).
I agree that all the inner monologing can get on your nerves, and the film is on the long side but by no means does it “suck”.
This film has a pretty large cult following, not only filled of Dune fans, but Lynch and SCI-FI in general.
For its time, it was smart, progressive and original.
Oh boy! This could be bad. I don’t mind the film and miniseries, but I got the idea for sure how big the story is. Hell, even David Lynch keeps a long distance from his film version (disliked not having complete control). The problem is Dune is big enough to start a trilogy, but lets be serious, John is right. There isn’t that huge fanbase Lord of the Rings had.
The 1984 movie was total shit. I don’t always agree with Roger Ebert, but he was dead on when he said this about it
“This movie is a real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion”
Amen. A remake will be just as bad or worse.
I’ve got to say this: Dune is the greatest selling sci-fi story of all time… If you need reassurance, google it my friends, numbers don’t lie.
As far a fan-base as large as Lord of the Rings? I remember a whole hell of a lot of people thinking that Peter Jackson was crazy, and that the studio behind the films were on drugs… Look who’s laughing now? Frodo and friends are much richer, and more famous now that ever- and the same would be true of a Dune Trilogy if directed by the right person and a studio with deep enough pockets started the project.
So Marty, while we share a first name, you don’t know shit about Sci-Fiction movies or novels. Read the books, I promise you’ll become a full-time Feydakin!
Dune should be done as a trilogy.
Where would you end each of the films if you did a trilogy?
I love David Lynch’s version, but then i have also seen the US cut of it which made me cringe
The lynch version is a misunderstood master work of Sci-Fi. Brilliant on almost every level. Yes, I’m serious.
The look, feel and sense of awe from so many scenes qualifies it as both a blockbuster and a thinking sci-fi piece.
I actually prefer the ~3 hour Alan Smithee version, truth be told, as it has a lot more scenes and stuff in there to smooth out the narrative (the narrative being why the film failed at the box office back in 1984, it’s a bit incoherent at times, but that is sort of Lynch’s style anyway, so no big deal)
…And The Sci-Fi TV Miniseries (i didn’t bother with its sequel for obvious reasons) was awe-inspiringly bad. Flat performances, bad execution and far too damn literal. Uggh.
Although I agree with you that Lynch’s Dune is not a good movie, I (for some inexplicable reason) love to watch it.
It’s one of the most visually stunning sci-fi films ever made. The effects are rather lame by today’s standards, but the set designs are some of the most interesting I’ve ever seen.
The Dune Sci-Fi channel mini-series was ‘ok’, but the sequel ‘Children of Dune” was much better. In fact, the sequel was great.
A Dune film in 2 parts would make sense, but unlikely. Although with the succes of film series like LOTR, it ‘may’ happen.
The only way this film could be properly done was as a trilogy but no studio would risk it which is just sad because this film is prime for a competent remake if done right could be of the greatest sci-fi franchises of all time like the book is arguably the best sci-fi novels of all time.
I’ve been waiting for this for many years. I have to disagree with you John. I didn’t think it sucked. There were some things about Lynch’s Dune that I liked although it wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t Lynch’s fault. The studio simply would not do it justice.
Frank Herbert’s Dune deserves the Peter Jackson/New Line Cinemas treatment and NO LESS!!!!
As far as no studio will ever . . . . well the LOTR films and the POTC films have set a precedent for breaking a story up into sequels. If they can take a chance on films based off of a f**king carny ride I don’t see the problem. If a studio is going to dare to interpret Herbert’s masterpiece I hope they learn from Jackson and take the time to do it right (make two or three films since the first book is actually three seperate parts). If they do this right this time it could mean big bucks for everyone involved.
i am not into sci-fi that much but i really liked the original dune the worms and the spice harvesters and that whole planet quality!!
yeah it has got some issues but as you say if you know some of the mythology it’s a pretty good film
craig
I like the version of Lynch. It was a beautiful grandiose “adaptation” of the work of Frank Herbert (who helped for the film by the way) that was scraped by the “suits”. It was not a perfect attempt in science-fiction.
The SciFi minis was the right format to adapt the series. Because the budget was not the one of movies, it couldn’t have the same quality. But i find the result more than ok.
If people want to invest money on the Dune work, they should put it on adaptations like the work of SciFi.
All of this in my humble opinion.
Again!?!?! this is the third time! Fuck it. I don’t care I’m not seeing it.
I’m not saying that everyone should LOVE Lynch’s “Dune”, but unless you like and understand his filmmaking, you’re gonna misunderstand his version of “Dune”. Lynch is one of the few living master filmmakers and his version of “Dune” was handicapped by the studio system.
Danielle
studiozone.com
IF ONE HAD READ THE BOOK DUNE BEFORE WATCHING THE MOVIE, THE MOVIE WAS SO WELL DONE IT WAS LIKE THE BOOK COMING ALIVE. EVEN THE SCENERY WAS AS DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK. OF COURSE THE BOOK DIFFERS IN SEVERAL ASPECTS BUT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO PRODUCE THE ENTIRE BOOK IN THREE HOURS. THE DeLAURANTIS FAMILY NORMALLY PRODUCES TOP QUALITY FILMS. PERSONALLY, I WOULD RATHER SEE A MOVIE AFTER CHILDREN OF DUNE, WHICH WAS VISUALLY BAD BUT INTERTAINING ANYWAY. THERE ARE WHAT ?, SIX BOOKS IN FRANK HERBERTS DUNE SERIES….ALL WERE GOOD, BUT THE BEST OF THE EFFORTS WAS MADE F I R S T .(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting ruleefore doing so)
IF ONE HAD READ THE BOOK DUNE BEFORE WATCHING THE MOVIE, THE MOVIE WAS SO WELL DONE IT WAS LIKE THE BOOK COMING ALIVE. EVEN THE SCENERY WAS AS DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK. OF COURSE THE BOOK DIFFERS IN SEVERAL ASPECTS BUT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO PRODUCE THE ENTIRE BOOK IN THREE HOURS. THE DeLAURANTIS FAMILY NORMALLY PRODUCES TOP QUALITY FILMS. PERSONALLY, I WOULD RATHER SEE A MOVIE AFTER CHILDREN OF DUNE, WHICH WAS VISUALLY BAD BUT INTERTAINING ANYWAY. THERE ARE WHAT ?, SIX BOOKS IN FRANK HERBERTS DUNE SERIES….ALL WERE GOOD, BUT THE BEST OF THE EFFORTS WAS MADE F I R S T
Are you kidding? The t.v. miniseries was the dumbest thing on t.v. even by Sci Fi channel’s low standards. The costumes looked like something from the Village People’s reject pile. Good grief! Oh, and isn’t it amazing to see most of the actors were catfish-belly white even though their characters were supposedly living in the desert? Seriously…
David Lynch’s version was much better. I doubt that movie audiences today could handle a complete retelling of the original novel though. Most folks today are too ignorant to keep up with the storyline. Moviemakers today would have to seriously dumb it down to make a profit with most of today’s viewers.