Dune will no longer launch in theaters Dec. 18.
Warner Bros. has not yet officially set a new release date for the Legendary tentpole. Sources, however, tell The Hollywood Reporter it will be moved to early October 2021, and likely Oct. 1 — the same date that fellow Warners release The Batman is supposed to fly into theaters.
Denis Villeneuve directs Dune, the ambitious big-budget film that adapts Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. It stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Zendaya, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Charlotte Rampling and Stellan Skarsgard, as the villainous Baron Harkonnen.
Dune‘s move has been in the works since last month when Warner Bros. relocated Wonder Woman 1984 from October 2020 to Dec. 25. No studio wants to compete with itself and release two event pics so close together, even if Dune is done and ready to unfurl.
Theaters had known that Dune would be delayed, but it still means one less 2020 event pic.
On Friday, theaters desperate for new product received word that MGM and Universal are delaying James Bond film No Time to Die from November to April 2021. The delay saw mega-movie theater chain and Regal parent company Cineworld, the second-largest exhibitor globally after AMC, say it would temporarily close or keep closed all of its locations in the U.K. and the U.S.
Collider first reported Dune‘s release date shift.
