‘Dune’ Pushed Back – Set to Face ‘Last Night In Soho’, ‘The French Dispatch’

Its Villeneuve vs Wright vs Anderson this October, as the three acclaimed auteurs’ new movies are all coming out on the same date. This matchup has occurred after Warner Bros. has had yet another shuffle of their 2021 slate: the highly anticipated Dune moving three weeks from 1st October to 22nd October 2021.

Timothée Chalamet in promotional material for Dune (2021).

The upcoming sci-fi adaptation was initially scheduled to release in November of 2020, so another three weeks likely won’t make fans too upset. The most interesting part of the move is Dune’s new competition: Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho and the new Wes Anderson film, The French Dispatch. Like Dune, these films are the works of popular directors and have been hotly anticipated, especially the latter which was intended to premiere at Cannes 2020. It would be surprising if the other studios decide to keep this release date, as each of the films play to similar audiences.

The move actually came about to tackle competition. According to insiders, the studio wanted to increase space between Dune and the newest James Bond film, No Time to Die, due to open 8th October. This shows WB’s faith in the film performing well, expecting it to deliver blockbuster figures.

It should be noted that in the US, Dune will be available to stream day-and-date on HBO Max, so its box office earnings may be effected by this.

Dune is set to premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and sees director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival; Blade Runner 2049) return to the sci-fi genre. The latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s groundbreaking novel stars Timothée Chalamet (Little Women), Zendaya (Spider-Man: Far from Home), Rebecca Ferguson (Doctor Sleep), Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War) and Oscar Isaac (Star Wars Sequel Trilogy).

Last Night in Soho continues the career high of Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), who turned in an award-winning performance in Netflix miniseries ‘The Queen’s Gambit’. This is Edgar Wright’s (Scott Pilgrim; Hot Fuzz) first film since Baby Driver (2017), which was not only a critical success, but also became the director’s highest grossing film earning $226,945,087 worldwide.

The French Dispatch on the other hand sees Wes Anderson (Rushmore; The Grand Budapest Hotel) reunite with his acting regulars as they take on the final days of an American newspaper outpost in 20th century France. Timothée Chalamet also stars here. While film fans will no doubt revel in a Chalamet double feature, it will be interesting to see how general moviegoers react to the actor being prominently featured in both.

Other films affected by the shuffle include Clint Eastwood‘s Cry Macho, now set to debut on 17th September, and ‘The Sopranos’ prequel The Many Saints of Newark, scheduled for 1st October.