Denis Villeneuve is one of the best directors working today and the fact that he is given massive budgets to work with is as amazing as it is worrying. What makes his films so special is his absolute mastery of storytelling, tone, and atmosphere but, unfortunately, many of these qualities do not directly translate into mainstream appeal. His films tend to be very methodically slow-paced and constructed, with well-thought-out plots and fascinating characters and they also tend to be very moody and dark.
Blade Runner 2049 is a fascinating film to look at from a blockbuster angle; it is a nearly $200 million dollar, almost 3-hour long, R-rated art film. It is not at all interested in exciting action set-pieces or making the audience feel good. It is a dark, brooding meditation of humanity and the world we live in with an incredibly thick atmosphere and a believable science fiction world. Roger Deakins' cinematography is as beautiful as it is slow and methodical, with nearly every shot being much longer than average in a film of this budget. The musical score is not triumphant or inspiring or even particularly melodic; it is comprised of droning synths that add to the atmosphere instead of trying to stand out on their own. The main character isn't an action hero but instead a deeply lonely man with an inner turmoil that almost never gets directly explained to the audience. The film also has an R-rating, something that is strictly avoided in blockbuster filmmaking as it shuts out a large portion of the audience. Not only is it rated R, but the film itself is made strictly for adults, with almost nothing in it that a younger audience member would like. It is also a sequel to a movie from the 1980s that also bombed at the box office.
Even I didn't like it when I saw it in a theatre all those years ago. I only fell in love with this film after getting deeper into the art of the medium, taking film courses, and eventually writing an essay analyzing it. I don't mean to sound pretentious with this, but, simply put, Blade Runner 2049 was never going to be beloved by general audiences despite being an excellent film. Everything about it, from the incredibly slow pace, to the lack of action sequences, to the R-rating, to the philosophical and intelligent nature of its plot, is specifically not general-audience friendly. This is exactly why the fact that it exists how it does is a miracle. I obviously love the movie, but I do not understand how any studio ever spent as much money on it as they did; there was absolutely no way it was going to make its money back. And, guess what: it didn't. Blade Runner 2049 made 260 million at the box office, with a budget of 185 million, rendering it a commercial failure. The fact that it even made that much is a miracle. Villeneuve made a blockbuster film so anti-blockbuster that I still question ho the studio even let them do what he wanted with it as clearly it was never going to appeal to most people. Now, let's talk about the upcoming Dune.
Dune is Denis Villeneuve's follow-up to Blade Runner 2049 and is shaping up to be my most anticipated film of the past few years. The pairing of this director with probably the greatest piece of literature I've ever read is a match made in heaven. But, again, Villeneuve's films simply lack mainstream appeal and I am currently worried for Dune's box office prospects.
On the surface, it is a lot more audience-friendly than Villeneuve's previous project; the cast is stacked with big names like Jason Mamoa, Javier Bardem, Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, etc. The film is only a PG-13 broadening its appeal, and is around 2 hours and 30 minutes long, more like a regular blockbuster than Blade Runner's whopping 2 hour and 44-minute runtime. It looks a lot less dark than Blade Runner judging from the trailers and there is even some humour present in the second trailer. Also, big giant worm.
However, despite all of this, I am still very uncertain about how Dune will perform at the box office, which is vital for the chances of a sequel that adapts the second half of the novel (this film only adapts roughly the first half, as said by Villeneuve himself). The book is very well-known among book-readers, but whether or not the average film-goer knows what Dune even is up to debate, despite influencing many popular properties such as Star Wars and Game of Thrones. The book is also not as action-packed as the film's trailers make it seem; it is very slow and methodical, with deeply explored characters and lots of inner monologues and conflicts (which is one of the reasons it is a perfect fit for Villeneuve). It is also an extremely dense and complicated book, with a rich world history and lots of jargon that hardly ever gets directly explained to the reader. The film's subdued, grounded aesthetic also doesn't scream "science fiction" nearly as much as something like Star Wars, which, again, could confuse someone unfamiliar with what this film is even about.
Setting up a new world in a film is challenging enough; getting the viewer caught up on and invested in a world as expansive as Dune's is an even greater challenge. The plot itself, like the world, is also complicated and requires understanding the history and characters well enough to follow along. Lastly, there is the question of the director's appeal to the blockbuster audience. He has made financially successful films in the past, such as Sicario and Arrival, but those were more of a mid-budget affair and marketed mainly to film-savvy audiences. Dune needs to be a blockbuster hit to be successful and bank not only on people familiar with the director or the novel but the general audience. Whether his artistic style or the novel's challenging story and themes will appeal to them is up in the air.
Dune is my most anticipated film of the year and I am 99% sure it will live up to the anticipation. I want Villeneuve to keep getting these big-budget projects and properties, he is one of the few directors in Hollywood who truly deserves it. Dune bombing may prevent that from happening and a sequel from being made, but I remain optimistic and hope that people unfamiliar with him or the novel will see the quality of storytelling and filmmaking on display and that the movie is a success.
Dune is out on October 22nd of this year.
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