'Dune' Receiving Earlier Streaming Release On HBO Max

Warner Bros. has announced it’s moving the HBO Max streaming release of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune by a few hours, making the movie available a little earlier than expected.

While Dune will be officially released in theaters on October 22, some theaters are already exhibiting the film on the evening of October 21, a move that HBO Max now follows. Villeneuve is not happy about Warner Bros.’s decision to release the movie simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. Still, for fans unable to go to theaters, it’s great to know they’ll watch the film even earlier.

Villeneuve’s Dune will adapt the first half of Frank Herbert's best-selling original novel, but even if co-writer Eric Roth has said that he has written a complete treatment for a possible sequel, no plans for a follow-up were announced by Warner Bros. However, a sequel is more than likely, considering the movie has already crossed $100 million in the box office on the few international markets it’s already available. If Dune becomes a box office success also in the U.S., Villeneuve’s could birth a new movie franchise since the original Dune series written by Herbert spawned through six novels, with 16 other books added by authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Image via Warner Bros. Discovery

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Dune’s impressive cast includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Dave Bautista as Glossu 'Beast' Rabban, Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, and Javier Bardem as Stilgar.

After premiering at Venice Film Festival on September 3, Dune will finally be released theatrically on October 22 and on HBO Max on October 21, 3 p.m. PDT / 6 p.m. EST. Check out Dune’s official synopsis below.

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence–a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential–only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

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