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Highlights

• Denis Villeneuve's Dune is a successful franchise with stellar performances and record-breaking box office numbers.
• The first adaptation by Lynch failed due to cramming, lack of promotion, and post-production issues.
• Villeneuve's Dune avoided past mistakes, stayed true to source material, and broke the 'un-filmable' myth.

Denis Villeneuve's Dune has shaped into a successful franchise, with Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya leading an ensemble cast of noteworthy actors. The first installment of the new adaptation made over $400 million, and the subsequent sequels are expected to make the same or more, with Dune: Part Two making an estimated $82.5 million on its opening weekend.

Seeing how Dune is likely to join the likes of MCU, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hunger Games, and other successful franchises with its success, the thought of what went wrong with the first adaption by David Lynch, which was unsuccessful, comes into play, especially with the preconception that Dune was nearly impossible to adapt to any form.

The first movie adaptation of Dune already had many things going against it, including production design, budget, competition, and distribution. However, Villeneuve's Dune’s achievements make comparison much more inevitable, especially with the storytelling choices of the two adaptations.

Dune 1984 Was A High-Risk Project Set Up To Fail From Inception

Dune 1984 could not capture the rich context of the source material, which led to its bombing at the box office

Dune 1984 was generally disappointing. The anticipated film made nearly $31 million at the box office on a budget of $40 million, officially becoming a flop. What people need to know is that the first adaptation was doomed to fail from the start.

Firstly, it had a pre-production task of getting a creative mind on board. Many names, including Arthur P. Jacobs, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Ridley Scott, tried to take on the ambitious project. David Lynch came on board to direct Dune in 1981, deciding to take the risk.

However, The Elephant Man director could not bring the world of the epic novel to life, even though he was enamored by what he read in the book. According to Lynch: "Dune was different; it had believable characterizations and depth. In many ways, Herbert had created an internal adventure, one with a lot of emotional and physical textures. And I love textures."

Nonetheless, the film was not able to perfectly capture the unique texture the book offered. Many of the choices Lynch made, while individually unique, could not combine cohesively into what Frank Herbert created in the books.

One of the biggest reasons Dune 1984 bombed at the theater was that it crammed the novel into 137 minutes compared to Dune: Part One, which had 147 minutes of runtime for one part alone. Cramming a lot of worldbuilding, storytelling, and action into a little over two hours was an overload that did not favor the movie.

The first adaptation could not convey the most important things and opted for techniques — internal monologs, voiceovers, and dramatic score — to condense the material, thereby skipping pivotal moments of the adaptation.

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Additionally, Dune 1984 did not receive much promotion and distribution, which led to limited theater releases across North America. Francesca Annis, who played Lady Jessica in Lynch's Dune stated: "I don't remember any huge junkets or anything... they must have known way before it came out that it was in trouble," Annis told Deadline.

Issues during pre-production and post-production did not bode well for the epic movie, which influenced the success of David Lynch’s Dune adaptation. The movie was a failure and a blot on the resumes of all involved. Lynch opted to forget the movie, seeing it as a failure in his lengthy career.

The same fate bestowed on subsequent adaptations seemed to reinforce the myth that Dune was nearly impossible to adapt. However, Denis Villeneuve's Dune 2021 has shattered that preconception.

Dune Was Revived For Its Influence On Pop Culture Despite Being Impossible To Adapt

Dune still has a lot of relevance to pop culture and world issues

Dune was seen as an untouchable project for many after the flop of many adaptations. It was seen as impossible to adapt due to the mammoth of creative concepts that needed to be brought to life.

However, technological advancement has made cracking a box office goldmine a worthy challenge for production companies and studios. Suddenly, Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic didn’t seem impossible anymore.

According to Denis Villeneuve, Dune had to be remade in sections, avoiding the mistake of the first film adaptation. "I would not agree to make this adaptation of the book with one single movie," the Arrival director said.

Most importantly, Dune’s central themes are very much still at the center of world issues today.

"A book that tackles politics, religion, ecology, spirituality — and with a lot of characters. I think that’s why it’s so difficult. Honestly, it’s by far the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life," Villeneuve said.

"No matter what you believe, Earth is changing, and we will have to adapt," he said. "That’s why I think that Dune, this book, was written in the 20th century. It was a distant portrait of the reality of the oil and the capitalism and the exploitation—the overexploitation—of Earth. Today, things are just worse. It’s a coming-of-age story and a call for action for the youth."

Dune is seen as one of the most acclaimed novels of the speculative fiction genre. Frank Herbert's novel had it all; an unlikely hero, worlds that are unreachable, unfamiliar, yet intriguing, exploitation of natural resources, enslaved people, and a power struggle between an authoritarian power and rebels,

Additionally, the influence of Dune on pop culture cannot be disputed. Many creative works of the science fiction genre still follow Dune's thematic pattern and narrative style, including Star Wars. Not making the rich, complex story of the book into a more visually compelling counterpart that would satisfactorily engage its expectant fans would be a disservice.

Moreover, the love for adaptations of fantasy and sci-fi novels like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games, among others, is still very present.

Not many adaptations of the speculative genre were a success (see Divergent, Chaos Walking, The 5th Wave, etc.), but there isn’t a denial of the clamor for great adaptations. Drawing in fans from available source materials is one of the easiest ways for studios to produce commercially successful movies.

Denis Villeneuve's Dune Is The Best Adaptation Of The Franchise

Dune 2021 did not make the same errors as the previous adaptations, making it a successful adaptation of the epic novel

Undoubtedly, Denis Villeneuve's Dune and Dune: Part Two are considered great adaptations of its source material.

Following the rave reviews from fans and critics for Dune in 2021, the sequel is also set to break new records for the movie franchise. The second part of Dune has already received rave reviews and its opening weekend saw a greater amount than the first part, meaning anticipation for the movie still exists.

The success of Dune lies mostly in the latest adaptation not making the same mistakes as its predecessors. Villeneuve would not sign on to the movie without the assurance that the book would be told in two parts. This unburdened the film with pressure to compress the book into a limited runtime. What Lynch's 1984 adaptation lacked was action, whereas Villeneuve's narrative choice was through action, safely moving the plot.

Additionally, the narrative style of the 2021 Dune is closely adapted to Herbert's style in the book, keeping fans happy that the central theme remains unchanged.

The worldbuilding of Dune is also visually stunning. While this has to do with the advancement in technology and production quality, there is a certain satisfaction in seeing the concepts described in the book in color.

Then there is the ensemble cast. Dune had a great number of A-list actors in its roster. Besides some of the returning stars from Part One, Part Two had Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Christopher Walken joining the extensive cast.

The abundance of evenly distributed acting prowess assures that the sequel was bound to be different from the others.

Having learned from other failed adaptations, Denis Villeneuve's Dune shattered the myth that Frank Herbert's classic novel was an un-filmable work. With the success of the first two parts, fans are hoping Denis Villeneuve will do another miracle with a possible third installment.

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