The highly anticipated science fiction movie Dune debuted to the world on Friday, October 22. The film is based off of the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert. The novel, also titled “Dune,” is often cited as the best selling science fiction novel of all time, and is also believed by many to be the birth of modern sci-fi.

The story follows 15-year-old Paul Atredies (Timothée Chalamet), a member of the noble Atreides house of planet Caladan, as he and his family travel to the harsh desert planet of Arrakis to become the new rulers. The original story is filled with intricate politics and intense action, something that earned it a very diverse audience.

However, this is not the first time that the novel has been brought to the big screen. In 1984, the first movie adaptation of “Dune” was released. The film was directed by David Lynch, and has long been regarded as a failure. Even at the time it was rated the worst movie of the year by many. The film was given only a 44% by critics on Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. Audiences rated it higher, giving it around 65%.

Computer Science teacher and science fiction buff Mr. Kevin Trigger commented on the movie, “I know a lot of people didn’t like the 1984 version – they thought it was a little cheesy, which I think is somewhat true, but the creators of that film were limited by the technology and special effects that were available at the time.”

The newer adaptation is being received by audiences much better. So far, it has an 83% on the Tomatometer from critics and a 91% from audience viewers. 

“I thought it was absolutely brilliant, I loved it,” stated Junior Shiv Anderson.

Although, not everyone shared these sentiments. Junior Conner Pamplin explained, “I personally didn’t like it… I think they expanded too much, they didn’t have enough action and set up too much for the second movie. It was way too long.. 3 hours, they should have crammed so much more into that.”

It’s possible that the movie was much more exciting to those who had already read the book, as they would have had a better grasp of the events occurring. Due to the incredibly complex nature of the novel, those in charge of the creation of the film likely wanted to make the story just as in-depth and comprehensive as the book was, leading them to include extreme levels of exposition and details while not including enough action for the average viewer.

So far, the film has grossed over 223 million dollars, and is on pace to earn a total of 360-400 million worldwide. While this would be a massive success, the performance may be hampered by the fact that Warner Bros. decided to release the film in theaters and on streaming service HBO Max at the same time. While this did make it more convenient for several viewers, the star studded cast of the film was not as happy about it, as it took away from their personal earnings.

Director Denis Villeneuve bashed HBO Max’s parent company, AT&T, for this choice, writing in a column Variety, “It is all about the survival of a telecom mammoth, one that is currently bearing an astronomical debt of more than $150 billion. Therefore, even though “Dune” is about cinema and audiences, AT&T is about its own survival on Wall Street. With HBO Max’s launch a failure thus far, AT&T decided to sacrifice Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 slate in a desperate attempt to grab the audience’s attention.”

Despite this, the film has been a massive success. In fact, a second part was announced less than a week after the original release of the movie. Pamplin states, “I think a second movie is going to be great, but the first movie still should have been better.”

This is a sentiment resonated by many as they wait to see the ending of Paul’s story. The film is set to fix many of the criticisms of the first movie, and is set to be released on October 20 of 2023. Until then, fans will just have to wait and wonder.