Dune Reboot in the Works?

I watched it on HBO Max. I'm pretty much blind when it comes to Dune. I know the 1984 movie is a cult classic and I know the book is a sci-fi staple. I've avoided spoilers, but I did read some comments in this thread. The spice is mentioned a few times and it's used for interstellar travel. My question is why do they want to leave and where do they come from? It seems like they are from Earth because they refer to themselves as human. It feels like they left Earth maybe thousands of years ago and now inhabit these planets. If that's true, then they must have had interstellar travel in the past, so what happened, did they forget how to use it, did they run out of fuel?

I see @Paladin and @Chaos Descending are complaining that there is not enough emphasis on the importance of spice. I didn't care one bit. Obviously the different fiefdoms are fighting over the spice, but they're also fighting over control. I don't really care that much over the reasoning. It makes sense that humanity would revert back to feudalism, that seems to be the most likely outcome for the future, especially in the absence of corporations. It also seems like women get treated like shit.

The cast was excellent, I thought everyone was great. This was refreshing, I've been wanting something like this for a long time Don't get me wrong, I like Marvel, but they've been dominating for a long time and I needed something new. I know it's not new, but it's new to me. Overall I really liked this a lot and I look forward to part two.

IIRC, the book is set 30K years in the future. As a kid, this seemed a bit far-fetched to me because I doubted that we'd still be human at this point.

I think the new Dune is terrific...but...it could use a dash of the Lynch version. As I said above, it's a fine adaptation, but it's a little too straight. And I think the politics could've been better set up.

Still, I'll probably watch it again soon.

I saw a little bit of Star Wars in there with the way they can control people and the psychic dreams.

You're not seeing Star Wars in Dune. You're seeing Dune in Star Wars!

George Lucas had clearly read Dune when he wrote Star Wars. In fact, I could best describe Star Wars as a mashup of Dune and Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress.

The whole time I was watching I kept thinking Star Wars is just the dumbed down kid version of Dune. That’s not to say I don’t like Star Wars.

I wouldn't go that far. Star Wars has some of its own unique elements, and it does blend elements "borrowed" from other sources well.

I have heard Dune described as "Star Wars for grown-ups," and that's probably closer to the mark. Star Wars is ultimately about the adventure, Dune is about the characters.

Lucas has admitted that one of the things Solo would smuggle was spice (yes, that spice). He's not been shy about where some of the things he cribbed came from. Ever watch The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad? If, like me, you saw it after you saw Star Wars, you'll swear you're having a stroke when you watch Sinbad and Princess Parisa swing over a chasm. It is almost identical to the scene where Luke and Leia swing over the chasm in the Death Star.

I saw bits and pieces of those movies when I was a kid, but I don’t remember much.

Okay I agree with that. The force is definitely more fleshed out and of course Clone Wars goes into more details.

One thing I forgot to mention. The dragonfly helicopters were cool.

Ornithopters. They've got a long history that Herbert drew upon for the books.

Watch Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress--which Lucas himself acknowledges as a big influence--and be amazed at the similarities, including a plucky princess, a black-caped villain, a humorous Mutt-and-Jeff pair that wander through the story, etc. Lucas even almost puts the title in his film:

And watch the attack on the dam in The Dam Busters, which no doubt inspired the raid on the Death Star.

IIRC, The Dam Busters was required viewing for the folks doing the EFX for the Death Star raid.

Watched it Monday night. I enjoyed it, thought it was well done. The cast was well picked, and I saw them as their characters instead of actors playing their roles. But at the same time, the characters were less alive than in the Lynch version. The Lynch version spoiled me, to me it is Dune, any other versions are less vibrant copies. But on its own, it was excellent, loved the cinematography, and it is the Dune that was envisioned by Frank Herbert. As for reviews that found it slow or boring, I found it to be much more watchable than the 2 other miniseries.

I'll have to make time to watch this.
I have DVDs of both Lynch and the mini-series, and enjoyed both (my take at the time was the mini-series covered what Lynch didn't).

Finally saw it today. The visuals are amazing. I do not think I would have kjnown as much about what was going on had I not been familiar with the material. However, the acting was so much better. I liked Jessica and Paul from the DL version, but They actually act out so much more. I was reminded in the box scene. There is no real exposition like the DL version, but the acting brought forth the pain that was going on in the box. I felt the connection between Paul and his father so much more in this one.

It was not that boring, but then again I did not head into it for the pew pew laser battles. It is Dune and this is what you went to see.

If you want the answer to this question, click the spoiler button below. It's not a HUGE spoiler, it's really just "plot point clarification". It's things that I think Dune Part One should have explained more in detail, but did not.

I'm sure a Butlerian Jihad movie would need Ahnold and the evil computer from Lower Decks

Yes, that definitely should have been in the film because that clears up a few questions I had because of the abilities Paul and his mother have seemed supernatural which is what reminded me of Star Wars.
ETA: A prologue would have done the trick like in Blade Runner.

Really interested to see what the Guild Navigators look like in nuDune

The one from the Lynch movie creeped the hell out of me when I was a kid

The Dune Part 2 Release Date Is Slightly Worrisome for Director Denis Villeneuve

We've already seen these guys. Not sure if they're navigators, although they might be - in which case DV is steering away from the weirder possibilities on this front.

I remember seeing those guys. I thought it was some weird ceremonial dress.

I assumed they were navigators. They're humanoid and enclosed in some environment suit with some vaguely orange atmosphere within. It fits.

(Edit: also, doesn't their clothing have an astronaut-like appearance to it?)

Just watched it with almost no knowledge of the world/material beyond:
1. Knowing that there are giant sandworms and sand involved.
2. Knowing that some of the characters' names were connected to the franchise like Baron Harkonnen (sp?), Liet and Muad Dib (but really nothing about the characters or the role they play other than the Baron is a bad-ass)
3. Having heard a couple of catchphrases (the spice must flow, fear is the mind-killer) out of context)

I'm sure that there are things from the books that I didn't pick up on, but the overall plot doesn't seem to be too complicated. If you've seen Star Wars and Game of Thrones, you could probably piece it together: And yes, I understand that Dune preceded those works and it's that they stole elements from Dune, but are more part of pop culture than Dune.

Basically, House Atreides is the equivalent of House Stark, House Harkonnen is the equivalent of House Lannister/Frey/Bolton in one evil package. The Emperor and House Harkonnen set House Atreides up for failure in mining spice from Spice World, but can't manage to kill the Chosen One who has Jedi Mind Trick powers and future visions. The Chosen One and his mother with the help of the locals of a desert planet are going to train up and eventually threaten to overthrow the people who set them up.

The prequel you need to watch if you want to have any hope of understanding Dune 2021.