Dune: Part Three preview is hitching a ride with The Odyssey
Four minutes from Denis Villeneuve’s next Dune film are screening only before IMAX 70mm showings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
The sands of Arrakis are turning up in a very exclusive place: before IMAX 70mm screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Mashable reports that roughly four minutes of Dune: Part Three footage will play ahead of The Odyssey, but only in that rare large-format presentation. That means standard screenings, regular IMAX showings and non-70mm IMAX tickets will not include the preview.
The format is a major part of the draw. Mashable says Nolan has championed IMAX 70mm as his preferred way for audiences to see The Odyssey, and only 41 theaters worldwide can show the film that way.
Those screenings are already sold out, according to the report. For fans who landed seats, the message is clear: arrive on time, because the new Dune material is before the main feature.
What the preview shows
The footage appears to be a cut-down version of a battle sequence Warner Bros. showed earlier this year at CinemaCon, Mashable reports. The same sequence was also shown in IMAX at a July 8 trailer event.
At that event, Denis Villeneuve said “a glimpse of this scene” would be shown before The Odyssey, according to IGN.
Mashable’s description of the extended footage places the action far from the desert world of Arrakis. A fleet of ships descends toward an unnamed planet carrying soldiers, including Fremen leader Stilgar, played by Javier Bardem.
The fighters are going to war in the name of Paul Atreides, now emperor and played again by Timothée Chalamet. The planet below them is described in Mashable’s report as cloudy, muddy and soaked with rain, a stark change for Fremen seeing water fall from the sky.
The scene then shifts into combat. Mashable reports that a large gun tower rises from the ground, lasers strike Stilgar’s soldiers and an explosion rocks the battlefield. The report describes the sequence as a grim, loud war scene that marks a darker turn from the battles seen in the first two Dune films.
Because the Odyssey preview is a shorter version, Mashable notes that not every detail from the longer CinemaCon and trailer-event footage may appear in theaters.
A familiar blockbuster play
The move echoes the rollout for The Odyssey itself. Mashable reports that last year, six minutes from Nolan’s film were shown before IMAX 70mm re-releases of Sinners and One Battle After Another.
That earlier footage was initially limited to 10 theaters showing those re-releases, according to the report. It later played before all IMAX screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The Odyssey is now in theaters. Dune: Part Three is scheduled to reach theaters on Dec. 18.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.