The next “Star Wars” Saga is here, but instead of the force and lightsabers, it’s more family emotions and holographic swords. The only similar thread is Oscar Issac, who plays the Resistance’s Starfighter Corps commander Poe Dameron in the “Star Wars” saga and Leto Atreides I, the patriarchal leader of the House of Astrides in “Dune.”
“Dune,” directed by Denis Villeneuve, debuted Oct. 22 in both theaters and on HBO Max, producing over $330.4 million in box office sales. The movie is the second adaptation (the first came out in 1984 and it was a flop!) of the book series of the same name, written by Frank and Brian Herbert. The story of “Dune” follows Paul Astreides, played by Timothée Chalamet, a gifted and intelligent young man born in a fate beyond his understanding, who must travel the most dangerous planet in the universe in order to protect his family.
Along with the “Call Me By Your Name” star, the cast is decked out with plenty of powerhouse performances. As previously stated, Oscar Isaac plays Paul’s father while his wife, Lady Jessica, is played by Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson. Other stars include: Zendaya (Chani), Paul’s love interest, Jason Momoa (Duncan Idaho), Stellan Skarsgârd (Vladmir Harkonnen), Javier Bardem (Stilgar), Dave Bautisa (Glossu Rabban), Josh Brolin (Gurney Halleck), and David Dastmalchian (Piter De Vries).
Although the cast is very talented and star-studded, many fans were disappointed and felt betrayed by the clickbait trailers that led them to believe that Zendaya and Momoa were more involved in the movie, but in all honesty, they were basically cameos.
First-year Jacob Martelle only watched the first ten minutes because they got bored very quickly.
“From what I saw, it was slow and I thought that Zendaya was going to be in it more,” they said.
Jacob was not alone in their thoughts about Zendaya’s screen time, a lot of fans called her appearance akin to a perfume ad.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “Dune” is about 155 minutes long but approximately seven of those minutes feature Zendaya’s character, which is only 4.5% of the entire sci-fi epic.
But that’s the point. Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment revealed to Variety that “Dune: Part 2” is officially greenlit and will be released in theaters on Oct. 20, 2023. So, Zendaya will have more screen time, because let’s be real: that’s why we will go.
