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Denis Villeneuve is aiming to make sand look bigger than ever in his upcoming sequel, Dune Messiah. Announced by IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond during a chat with CNBC’s Squawk On The Street last week, the next Dune movie will be shot with IMAX cameras, a first for the series. “He’s making the next Dune with IMAX cameras,” Gelfond said. “He’s filming the whole thing.” However, “the whole thing” might not necessarily mean the whole thing. Per Gizmodo, IMAX representatives confirmed that Villeneuve is filming some of Dune Messiah in IMAX but did not confirm “the whole thing” would be filmed in the format. For what it’s worth, Gelfond is “praying” that Villeneuve has a good experience with his cameras, so that the director will shoot his recently announced James Bond movie in the format, too.
The news isn’t shocking, considering Gelfond notes that 20% of Dune: Part Two’s $714 million box office was due to IMAX presentations. Dune: Part Two was not filmed in IMAX, though. Villeneuve shot the film digitally on Arri’s Alexa LF. This 4K large format camera allowed Villeneuve to transfer the film to IMAX 70mm and 70mm film so the audience could watch slack-jawed as Paul Atreides rides that big ‘ol sandworm to Stilgar’s delight.
Currently, Christopher Nolan is filming his Odyssey entirely with the recently refashioned IMAX film cameras. These cameras, developed following the success of Oppenheimer‘s multi-format release, reduced the size of and noise produced by IMAX cameras, which had previously been a barrier to entry for many filmmakers. Most blockbusters, like Thunderbolts, opt for IMAX’s digital cameras, which are quieter, smaller, and for cowards. But after Oppenheimer, Nolan wanted to go the whole nine. “‘If you can figure out how to solve the problems, I will make [Odyssey] 100% in IMAX,'” Gelfond said of his conversation with Nolan. “And that’s what we did. He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.” These cameras are 30% quieter and would be perfect for shooting this big, weird third Dune movie. Unfortunately, Mr. Nolan is currently using every one of these new cameras, so Dune will have to wait. No worry, it’s the slow blade that penetrates the shield.
