New 80-Minute Dune Movie Releases On Digital In Just 1 Month

Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 sci-fi novel, which follows noble heir Paul Atreides going on a grand adventure on the desert planet Arrakis when his family is betrayed, has launched a sprawling series both on the page and on the screen. Herbert himself wrote five sequels while his son Brian wrote 15 spinoff novels with Kevin J. Anderson. In addition to comic book, game, and television adaptations, the series has been adapted into a 1984 David Lynch movie starring Kyle MacLachlan and a 2021 Denis Villeneuve trilogy starring Timothée Chalamet, which is set to continue with the upcoming Dune: Part Three.

Now, a listing on Apple TV has confirmed that the documentary Dune – The Real Story is set to debut on digital on December 7. That sees the movie dropping for at home viewers exactly two weeks before Dune: Part Three debuts in theaters on December 18. The 80-minute documentary follows the trials and tribulation involved in bringing Dune to the big screen.

The documentary primarily focuses on the franchise’s history of film adaptations ahead of the Villeneuve trilogy (which also spawned the HBO spinoff series Dune: Prophecy). This includes the David Lynch movie (which was famously a critical and commercial flop, though it later grew to become a cult film), but it also focuses on attempts to mount Dune movies that ultimately fell through.

The most famous of these is the version that was set to be helmed by The Holy Mountain director Alejandro Jodorowsky. His expansive 10-hour vision included a star-studded cast that featured Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, Salvador Dalí, David Carradine, Udo Kier, and Mick Jagger, music by Pink Floyd, and designs by H. R. Giger. While the movie never received funding, its pre-production process directly inspired many other iconic movies such as Alien, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, and The Terminator.

The story of the Jodorowsky version has been told in detail in the 2013 documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune.

Director Ridley Scott also attempted to make a Dune movie in between his sci-fi masterpieces Alien (which debuted in 1979) and Blade Runner (which debuted in 1982), which will be covered in Dune – The Real Story. The all-encompassing documentary was written and directed by Robin Bextor, a documentarian who has helmed a number of similar movies, including Peaky Blinders: The Real Story, Nosferatu: The Real Story, Wicked: The Real Story, Oppenheimer: The Real Story, Twisters: The Real Story, and The Exorcist: Untold. He is also known for music documentaries about subjects such as The Beatles, UB40, and Kiki Dee.

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The Real Story is just one indication that the Dune phenomenon is far from over. While the impending Part Three is meant to be the final installment of the Villeneuve trilogy, the franchise is already set to continue with Prophecy season 2, and it has the potential to be a box office success to the degree that more spinoffs are mounted. Warner Bros’ confidence in its prospects is highlighted by the fact that they are running it in theaters on the same weekend as Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday, which has otherwise scared away all other wide release competitors.