Will Dune Part Three Move its Release Date?
Dune Part Three has finished filming, but it's still set to be released on the same day as Avengers: Doomsday. Will it move?
It was just announced that Dune Part Three has finished filming. The trilogy-finale, directed once again by Denis Villeneuve, actually had a very quick and quiet production (it started in July and wrapped now). The movie is an adaptation of Dune Messiah (at some capacity), with some speculations that it might take some stuff from Children of Dune. As of now, it is set to be released on December 18, 2026, but here’s the thing, this is the same day as Avengers: Doomsday.
Say whatever you say about Marvel, Avengers: Doomsday is going to be big. No, I’m not saying it’s going to make 2 billion, but 1 billion is all-but-guaranteed, especially if this movie will be the ultimate crowd-pleaser Marvel event that everyone wants. One of the reasons why Marvel moved it to December is for the magical “December legs” at the box office, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is actually the main reason why it was moved in the first place.
I don’t think we’ll get another Barbenheimer. Yes, the studios can go for it, but it just seems too risky for me. As far as we know, Dune Part Three is not a classic action crowd-pleaser, so it will need everything for its advantage. I’m pretty sure that Warner and Legendary will market this movie as “The Epic Conclusion”, to make it the biggest event possible, not unlike “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”. I don’t think they want to risk it and put it against Avengers: Doomsday. Maybe they will move it after the first Avengers: Doomsday teaser will drop.
The big question is – where to? If there’s one thing I learned about December, is that you can have lots of counter-programming. We had Aquaman, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Mary Poppins Returns all in December 2018, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in December 2017, and even Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji: The Next Level in December 2019. As of now, we have 3 big movies in December 2026 – Jumanji 4 on December 11, and Dune Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday on December 18. So You can move Dune to another date in December, like December 23.
But I think it will move to another month. The question is, forward or back? Technically they can move it to March 2027 (March 5 or March 12 should be great), like they moved Dune Part Two from November to March because of the strike. But it’s not that easy. First, there are some big movies at the end of March – Sonic The Hedgehog 4 on March 19, and Godzilla x Kong: Supernova on March 26 (Although it can be a repeat of 2024, where at the beginning of March we got Dune Part Two and at the end of March we got Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and both of them did extremely well). Another thing is the award season. Warner wants Dune Part Three to be a major awards contender, that’s one of the reasons why they dated it in December.
So I think it will move earlier, to November or October. November 6 or November 13 are my guesses; they are at the beginning of the month, and it will have no competition until The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens on November 20. But how about a little earlier, like October? Since the movie is already wrapped, I think it can be ready by then. October 2 or October 9. Both of these dates are great, no competition, and it’s the same time when we got Joker and Venom.
In the end, most chances that indeed Dune Part Three will move, but if Warner really wants the awards, they will move it earlier. I bet we’ll have more information soon.
So not Dunevengers?