The ‘Dune’ sequel was previously set to release in November this year. Will others follow suit?
ADVERTISEMENTWarner Bros. announced that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune sequel, originally scheduled to be released in November this year, has officially been delayed until 15 March 2024.
The news of the Dune: Part Two delay comes amid a historic Hollywood shutdown as the writers’ and actors’ guilds are both currently on strike, with no signs of a resolution so far.
As part of the shift, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire — which was previously dated for 14 March 2024 — is getting pushed back one month to 12 April. The film is also produced by Legendary and Warner Bros. and is the latest entry in the Monsterverse franchise.
We reported last month that several major productions would be affected by the strikes, including Dune: Part Two, Gladiator 2, the Beetlejuice sequel, Venom 3 and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two.
Variety noted last month that Warner Bros. was also assessing possible delays to 2024 for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (20 December 2023) and The Color Purple (25 December 2023), but the studio plans to retain December dates for both titles.
Sony is the only other major studio to delay several of its movies amid the strikes; last month the company pushed back Kraven the Hunter and a Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel to 2024, in addition to removing Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse from the release calendar.
Dune: Part Two isn’t the only Zendaya-starring movie to get delayed; Challengers, Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, which was originally meant to open this year’s Venice Film Festival, has also been moved to next year.
The actors’ strike is currently in its second month after the 160,000 member-strong SAG-AFTRA union voted to join striking Hollywood writers who are fighting for better compensation and assurances that they will not lose work to artificial intelligence, among other demands.
The question now remains whether other major tentpole 2023 releases will follow suit, including Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel Wonka (also starring Dune ’s Timothée Chalamet), Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins, and Lionsgate’s franchise reboot The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
Watch this space.
