50 Most Anticipated Movies Of 2021

2. Dune

If there's any one director who could successfully adapt Frank Herbert's legendary 1965 sci-fi opus Dune to the big screen, it's surely Denis Villeneuve - the same man who made a Blade Runner sequel that surpassed the original against near-impossible odds.

The marketing certainly suggests Villeneuve has another visually stunning winner on his hands, and his filmmaking cred has unsurprisingly had just about every available actor in Hollywood clamouring to get a part in the movie.

And so, the cast counts among its ranks - take a deep breath - Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.

But ultimately the film's legacy may be less concerned with its quality than its commercial success. Given that Dune is only adapted from the first half of Herbert's novel, the second-half ever being made is contingent upon turning satisfactory profits.

Given the fringe nature of the source material and the film set to go direct to HBO Max the same day as cinemas, it's tough to say what "success" may mean in this new era.

Release Date: October 1