Right now, Avengers: Doomsday is making a considerable amount of headlines thanks to new trailer that debuted during the D23 Expo this month, but cinephiles haven’t lost sight of the fact there’s another highly anticipated franchise installment bowing in theaters this holiday season. Opening on the same day is Dune: Part Three, the culmination of director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic. Nobody is actually expecting Dune 3 to outgross Doomsday at the box office (Avengers is doing better than Spider-Man: Brand New Day in ticket pre-sales), but it should still be able to hold its own — especially since it will benefit from IMAX screenings. That selling point is the centerpiece of the lastest Dune: Part Three promo, which also reveals a terrifying character.
To commemorate tickets for IMAX 70mm, IMAX, and other premium large format screenings going on sale, Warner Bros. released a new look at Dune: Part Three. The most notable bit of footage is a brief moment featuring Edric, a third-stage Spacing Guild Navigator, who ominously states that “the end” is coming. Check out the teaser in the space below:
In the novel Dune: Messiah (on which Dune: Part Three is based), Edric is part of the conspiracy to overthrow Paul Atreides. Due to his abilities gained from copious amounts of spice (Guild Navigators are enhanced humans who live in tanks so they’re constantly exposed to the substance), Edric is a valuable component of the plot. He has the power to block Paul from seeing the coup attempt as the plan is being formulated, allowing Edric and his cohorts to operate in secret. In Dune lore, Guild Navigators are able to see what Paul has planned for the galaxy, determining he is a tremendous threat that must be eliminated. That is why Edric participates in the Dune: Part Three scheme.
Edric is also on hand to present Paul with Hayt, a ghola who takes the form of Paul’s old friend and mentor Duncan Idaho. So while Edric hasn’t been featured heavily in Dune: Part Three marketing to this point, he should play a key role in the film. For those who only know Dune through the movies, a character such as this makes for a fascinating expansion of an already compelling sci-fi world; and for book fans, it’s exciting to see Edric come to life. It’ll be fascinating to see how Villeneuve handles Edric’s portrayal, but if his track record is anything to go by, it will be captivating.
Hearing Edric speak is thrilling, but the main point of this new Dune: Part Three teaser is to draw attention to the premium large format screenings. Tickets for IMAX showings first went on sale back in April, selling out quickly (and later sold on ebay for outrageous prices), but now more tickets and showtimes are available. For months, people wondered if Dune: Part Three or Avengers: Doomsday would move to avoid a head to head box office showdown (unlike Barbenheimer, “Dunesday” features two films with ostensibly similar target audiences), but both Warner Bros. and Disney are standing firm. If The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day can both make over $1 billion, then there should be enough room for Dune and Doomsday to coexist at the box office during the always-lucrative holiday season.
Over the next few months, Warner Bros. will be pushing the IMAX angle heavily while promoting Dune: Part Three. It’s the one main advantage the film has over Doomsday, securing a multi-week exclusive run in IMAX locations. Brand New Day broke records without the benefit of IMAX (The Odyssey had those screens tied up when Spider-Man opened), but it and other premium large formats have become an integral component of the moviegoing experience. Watching a movie in IMAX is something that’s irreplicable at home, so there’s always a substantial amount of interest in these tickets — especially for films from visionary directors like Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan. Dune may not beat Doomsday, but it’ll be a huge draw nonetheless thanks to IMAX.
