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Dune: Part Three Is The Official Title, Will Be Shot Entirely On IMAX

The big screen adaptation of Dune: Messiah will be titled Dune: Part Three, and a new report suggests the film will be shot entirely on IMAX cameras.

Things are moving along for the big-screen adaptation of Dune: Messiah. The last reports say the film is either in production or about to enter production and is looking to hit a late 2026 release date. That's a pretty quick turnaround, but a lot of the stuff they used for the first two films can be reused here so that cuts down on a lot of pre-production things that need to be accomplished. It seems that Legendary and Warner Bros. don't want to confuse audiences by keeping the title of the book, so we're getting the much more straightforward title of Dune: Part Three. It's also an acknowledgment of just how connected the first two books are, with many saying that Dune: Messiah is more of an extended prologue than an entirely new book. On top of that, Dune: Part Three is going to have something in common with the currently in-production Christopher Nolan directed adaptation of The Odyssey. In a recent interview on CNBC (via Variety), IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond, when commenting on the announcement that director Denis Villeneuve will direct the next James Bond film, implied that Dune: Part Three will be shot entirely on IMAX cameras.

"From a personal point of view, I was really happy. I like him. I think he's a genius filmmaker," Gelfond said about the Bond hiring. "He's so creative. He's making the next 'Dune' — with Imax cameras, he's filming the whole thing. So we haven't started talking yet, but I'm praying that that's the case with Bond."

Dune: Part Three Went From "Someday" To "Next Day" Overnight

When Dune: Part Two was released, director Denis Villeneuve was sending some mixed signals, if we're being honest. On the one hand, he wanted a very well-deserved break before tackling a possible third Dune film, which was completely understandable. These films are massive and were shot fairly close together, not to mention COVID-19 got in the way of post-production on the first film and pre-production on the second. Then he would turn around and say how the script for Dune: Messiah was almost done, or Hans Zimmer would say he was already writing music for the film despite it not actually being greenlit by anyone, and Villeneuve insisting he needed a break. It turns out that you can praise someone so much that they end up doing the opposite of what they said they would do. Dune: Messiah was officially confirmed to be in development in April 2024, but there is no confirmed release date, though it is speculated it is December 2026. In February 2025, Villeneuve confirmed the love the second film got did play a part in him deciding not to take a (still well-earned) break, saying he "was really moved by the way Part Two was received by cinephiles around the world, and I felt an appetite and a desire to see more and a responsibility to finish that story."

Despite having ample opportunity to do so, Warner Bros. did not address the Dune: Messiah shaped elephant in the room during its CinemaCon presentation earlier this month, which was a shame. Right now, there has been very little confirmed information about the film, so something tangible would have been nice, even if it was just confirmation that pre-production was being worked on and they had a production start date ready to go. They didn't, and now we're here to speculate until someone comes out and says something. Some things have been going around, like Jason Momoa revealing that he is returning and letting everyone know his opinion on spoilers for books older than most of the audience. We also heard that production was set to start this summer, perhaps in June, if the sources were to be believed. Casting reports have started getting floated around, including Robert Pattinson being eyed as Scytale. In July, it was reported that the official title will be Dune: Part Three and not Dune: Messiah

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