Hollywood strikes casualty: 'Dune 2' delayed?

The upcoming sequel to 'Dune', 'Dune: Part 2' has been facing uncertainty regarding its release ever since the beginning of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, however while the possibility of it being delayed was seeming unlikely day by day, the movie has now been delayed to 2024.

Furthermore, as some of the crew of 'Dune 2' are themselves part of the strikes, and some of the cast such as Zendaya are giving their support to it, the movie can no longer go ahead with any more promotions, becoming another hot target in the recent slew of Warner Brothers projects, and Hollywood features in general to get massively delayed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Denis Villeneuve's big budget sequel was slated to open on November 3, 2023 in North America before globally hitting theatres on November 17, 2023.

However, it will now instead debut in the US on March 15, 2024 while its global release date remains in question. In a twinned move, studios Legendary and Warners have also pushed back ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ by one month to April 12, 2024.

Another Warner Brothers feature which has been delayed all the while the studio is greatly struggling financially is their animated film 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim', which has been shifted from April 12, 2024, to December 13, 2024.

Alongside two more likely targets were 'Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom' and 'Wonka', both of which were also facing a strong likelihood of being delayed, though the movies have maintained that they will be coming out on their scheduled dates and are as of now unaffected by the strikes.

The studios, however, do not seem too badly affected by this delay, as they are prepping the film for IMAX release and are sure that a few more tweaks and additions that they have been wanting to do for a while, but have been unable to do will now be possible thanks to the delay caused by the strikes.

'Dune: Part 2' apart from starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya, will also feature Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista and Charlotte Rampling as returning members.

New actors joining the team will include Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken and Léa Seydoux.

Back in April, at the American comic-con, Villeneuve speaking about the sequel had said, “Part One is more of a contemplative movie. Part Two is an action-packed, epic war movie. It is much more dense. We went to all the new locations. I didn’t want a feeling of repetition. It’s all new sets. Everything is new.”