Heads up about the 'Dune' movie runtime I just saw | Book to Screen Talk

Laura Davis · 2026-03-11T05:40:06.084736+00:00

I was reading an article on Variety and saw that the 2021 'Dune' movie only covers roughly the first half of the book! I always thought it felt a bit rushed, and now I know why. Has anyone else felt like a movie adaptation needed way more time to tell the full story?

murray.rowan7mo ago

Actually, the 2021 movie covers about two thirds of the first book. It ends right after Paul and Jessica meet the Fremen. The second half of the book has a big time jump and a lot of guerrilla warfare, which is why they split it. The old 1984 movie tried to do the whole thing and it was a total mess because it was too much story.

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clark.claire6mo ago

Wait, only HALF the book?

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ryan_taylor247mo ago

Oh man, totally. Remember the first Hobbit movie stretching like 50 pages into three hours, then the last one cramming a dragon fight, five armies, and a wizard duel into 45 frantic minutes? Some stories just need the space to breathe without getting chopped up or bloated.

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