Epic Dune movie trailer finally lands on the internet

Finally, the Dune movie trailer has landed on the internet. Anticipation for the upcoming Denis Villeneuve adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic novel has been building for weeks. Originally slated to be attached to the Tenet premiere, it has now arrived as a standalone trailer. Though I hope to watch the Dune movie trailer in the cinema for that cinematic feel. This Dune movie is based on a screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth and adapts roughly half of the novel. Fans of the novel are glad Warner Bros. Pictures decided to split the story in two. And so avoid one of the obvious flaws of the 1984 adaptation by David Lynch. Dune stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica and Oscar Isaacs as Duke Leto Atreides. It is slated for release on December 18^th. Without further ado, here is the trailer.

Dune movie trailer

One of the things trailers such as this have to do is to show how the actors will depict their characters. The opening shot of Paul about to undergo the Gom Jabbar is a powerful moment. Charlotte Rampling’s character Reverend Gaius Helen Mohiam prepares to test Paul’s humanity with the pain box. I enjoy how their faces are illuminated while the background fades. This brings the viewer closer to the character Paul as he is on the cusp of adulthood. The Gom Jabbar itself is more of a sharp poker with a needle instead of a needle at the end of the finger wrap. The trailer will at times return to this moment. In a voice over of Mohiam the backstory is explained, with her warning Paul his father has not only lost Caladan but will also lose Dune.

New design

Then we see the design for the thopter, which some such as Quinn have remarked looks like a dragonfly. The design is indeed esthetically the closest to the Frank Herbert novel. Next we see the high ranking members of House Atreides land on Arrakis, some of previously covered stills already showed this. We see Duke Leto and Gurney wearing their distinctive armor, and lady Jessica wearing a white veil. The trailer then switches to a number of short scenes. Stellan Skarsgard makes his introduction into Dune as the Baron Harkonnen by slowly rising from a bath of goo. We see Dave Bautista portraying Glossu Rabban wearing pale makeup. Then comes Chen Chang as Dr. Wellington Yueh, which I think is after he betrayed house Atreides and is led to his confrontation with Baron Harkonnen.

Stray observations

The cinematography of this movie as shown in the trailer is impressive. The scenes on Arrakis portray of fully functional use for architecture and interior design – a necessity for the unforgiving desert planet. I also enjoyed the visual look of the desert. It is milky white, the way I think a desert should look. Unlike the 1984 adaptation which made it all look like brown rock. There is more combat in this trailer then I thought. The destruction of House Atreides is a lengthy affaire. I get the feeling the director is showing every part of it. There are various shots of Zendaya as Chani, most are from Paul’s dreams. It is an interesting way to enlarge the role as her appearance in the first half of the book is sparse.

Visual art of Dune

The visual art that this trailer imbues has a classic Denis Villeneuve feel. The grand set pieces are similar to The Arrival and Blade 2049. And to think this is just a trailer, for the first movie! If you want to know more about the artwork developed for this movie you can purchase the official companion book entitled The Art and Soul of Dune. It is written by Tanya Lapointe who authored a similar book for Blade Runner 2049. The expected release date is December 18th, the day the movie will also be released! If you want to know more about Dune in general, then check out my dedicated page. This gives an overview of all of the novels, adaptations and games that have so been released, and those that are still slated. I also have a page specifically for the Dune 2020 movie which I will be expanding soon.

More Dune on the way

However, the Dune movie is not the only adaptation of the franchise to be released. On October 13th the first novel in the Caladan Trilogy will be released. Written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson it is set right before the events of the original Dune novel. The first novel is entitled Dune: The Duke of Caladan. On December 10th book 1 of the graphic novel adaptation of Dune will be released. It is illustrated by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín’s and adapted by Frank’s son Herbert and his longtime writing companion Kevin J. Anderson. If that was not enough there is also a comic book adaptation of House Atreides. The plan is for that first book in the Great Houses trilogy to be adapted into a 12-issue limited series. A release date is hard to pin down, but issue #1 could come as soon as October.

Conclusion to Dune movie trailer

So there we have it, more Dune than anyone can deal with. This trailer, along with the screens captures from the Empire article are sure to provide plenty of wallpapers for the coming months. Dune stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atriedes, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Oscar Isaacs as Duke Leto Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam and Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Liet-Kynes. If you are as excited about the 2020 Dune movie as I am then don’t forget to subscribe to SciFiEmpire.net by filling out the widget on the right. That way you will never miss an article. Also check out my official forum for the 2020 Dune movie, or post a comment below.