Buried Dune
March 25, 2011
Dune is dead. Long live Dune!
There have been a few directors attached to Paramount’s planned new adaptation of Dune, and there have been a few scripts. I met some of the announcements with cautious optimism, but most with outright pessimism. That does not matter now. What matters is Paramount’s option to the property is running out, and the reason they are going to give up on it is simply the money.
The production would likely have cost over $100 million.
It’s hard to argue that $100 mill is a hell of a bid for a gamble of this magnitude. David Lynch’s Dune, which I enjoyed—and I saw it before I read the book—failed to make money. I suppose the SyFy mini-series made some bank, because they filmed a sequel, but big budget is closer to David Lynch’s foray than the mini-series. We’re talking some major cake.
And, frankly, do we need another Dune movie? I really don’t think so. I don’t think a single movie can do it justice. Two or three movies, with significant budgets? Possibly. But there is never a guarantee of quality.
I’m not terribly sorry this adaptation of Dune is being buried. Let’s try something new, shall we, Hollywood?