SIMP FACTS:
- ‘DUNE’ WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ALL HBO MAX AD-FREE PLAN SUBSCRIBERS AT 6PM ET.
- THE FILM HITS THEATERS TOMORROW — OCTOBER 22.
One director’s trash is a casual fan’s treasure?
Starting today at 6PM ET, anyone on HBO Max’s $15 a month ad-free plan will be able to stream the highly anticipated scifi epic ‘Dune’, a day before it hits theatres.
But not everyone is jumping for joy — especially not the film’s director Denis Villeneuve.
Villeneuve published an editorial in Variety after first learning his blockbuster would release in theatres at the same time as HBO Max, and he did not mince words.
The director accused HBO parent company AT&T of abandoning its creators amidst a pandemic while using their creations to attract subscribers in an ever-competitive streaming landscape.
‘Dune’ is an artistic passion project from Villeneuve, who feels that slapping it onto a streaming service without giving it a proper theatrical window is an afront to cinema.
“Dune is by far the best movie I’ve ever made. My team and I devoted more than three years of our lives to make it a unique big screen experience. Our movie’s image and sound were meticulously designed to be seen in theaters.”
Creative aspects aside, there is also the potential the move can mess with the director’s royalties — depending on how his deal with HBO was structured. This is what led to Scarlett Johannsen’s recent lawsuit towards Disney for its handling of the release of ‘Black Widow’.
Villeneuve’s scathing editorial was made at a time when it was thought the theatrical release and streaming release would happen simultaneously — we can’t even imagine what he’s thinking now that HBO Max has been given a slight exclusive window.
‘Dune’ fans can weigh the director’s comments when they decide how they plan to watch the Timothée Chalamet-led adaptation of the classic Frank Herbert novel.
Hopefully this rocky relationship doesn’t have any impact on the already-confirmed sequel.