Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE has been pushed back 10 months to late October 2021

On the plus side, you now have plenty of time to read (or re-read) Frank Herbert’s Dune, with today’s news that Denis Villeneuve’s highly anticipated adaptation has been pushed back to October 2021. As reported in Collider, Warner Bros. has pushed Dune from its December 2020 release date to October 1, 2021.

Dune stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgård, and Oscar-winner Javier Bardem.

The move is not entirely unexpected, given that most major 2020 releases have been pushed back to 2021 or taken off the release schedule completely. As of now, Wonder Woman 1984 and the Ryan Reynolds video game action-comedy Free Guy are the only major releases scheduled to open in theatres this holiday season, and those may also very well be pushed back.

While safety is paramount, this news can’t bode well for the theatre industry; U.S. theatre chain Regal cinemas just announced that it is shuttering all of its 536 locations on Thursday, due to “an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape” amidst the pandemic.

Warner Bros. just released the spectacular first trailer for Dune a few weeks back; check that out below, and start counting the days until next October.