It’s official: Denis Villeneuve’s hotly anticipated “Dune” reboot will world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.
As first anticipated by Variety, the fest has announced that the big budget sci-fi epic toplining Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya will world premiere in Venice out-of-competition on September 3.
The film is adapted from Frank Herbert’s seminal science fiction bestseller about young Paul Atreides (Chalamet), scion of the noble House of Atreides which has been tasked with overseeing the barren desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune.
Villeneuve was last in Venice with non-conventional sci-fi pic “Arrival” in 2016.
The star-studded pic from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures also stars Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Sharon Duncan Brewster, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Chang Chen, David Dastmalchian, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.
Though Venice, as is customary, has not specified what talents will be attending the “Dune” premiere, it’s a safe bet that Warner Bros. will be flying in some stars.
“Dune” is scheduled for a simultaneous release in theaters via Warner Bros. and on HBO Max on October 1.
Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve, Cale Boyter and Joe Caracciolo, Jr. produced the film. The executive producers were Tanya Lapointe, Joshua Grode, Herbert W. Gains, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert.
Venice’s upcoming Sept. 1-11 edition is on track, barring complications, to run as a completely in-person celebration of cinema with hundreds of journalists and dozens of film delegations expected to make the trek to the Lido from all over the world.
Other high-profile titles believed to be locked in for a Lido launch comprise Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, and Paolo Sorrentino’s semi-autobiographical drama “The Hand of God,” both from Netflix.
As previously announced, Bong Joon-ho will preside over the main Venice jury, while Italian multiple Oscar winner Roberto Benigni (“Life is Beautiful”) will be honored with a lifetime achievement award.