'Dune: Part Two' Production To Begin In Italy This Week

Fans eagerly awaiting the final installment of "Dune" are in for some good news!

On Sunday, Deadline confirmed local reports out of Italy that Legendary Entertainment’s "Dune: Part Two" is about to start pre-shooting in Altivole, Italy in the Veneto region.

The filming is expected to start as early as Monday, June 4, and continue for at least two days, so they should wrap production in this corner of Italy by the end of the week. At this time, it is unknown which members of the cast will be taking part in the shoot.

The major production with the main members of the ensemble cast is expected to begin in Budapest, Hungary, later this month on July 21. "Dune: Part One," which premiered last year, was also filmed in Budapest.

For local fans interested in getting a glimpse of their favorite stars, the shoot in Italy is reportedly taking place at the Carlo Scarpa-designed Brion Tomb.

Scarpa designed the concrete structured area between 1968 and 1978. The area is made up of a small chapel, a reflecting pool, an arcosolium, and gardens with Byzantine and Japanese influences.

As Deadline reported last week, Warner Bros. pushed back the sequel premiere from October 20, 2023, to November 17, 2023, just before Thanksgiving.

However, this release date coincides with Lionsgate's prequel to "The Hunger Games," titled, "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes." The prequel movie, which tells the story of a young President Snow (Tom Blyth) is expected to begin filming in mid-July.

The Denis Villeneuve-directed "Dune: Part 1" grossed over $400 million dollars worldwide and won six Oscars. It had been nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, which went to "CODA."

It remains to be seen if Warner Bros. or Lionsgate will change their release date to avoid competition at the box office.

Back in May, Deadline announced that the 79-year-old actor has been cast in the highly anticipated sequel, “Dune: Part Two.”

The cast currently includes Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, and Josh Brolin, who are all expected to reprise their roles from the first installment. Director Dennis Villeneuve will return to write, direct, and produce the second film as well. Jon Spaihts will be back to co-write the script.

Although “Dune: Part One” was available to stream on HBO Max the same day it was released in theaters, the film still had an opening weekend of $41 million, which exceeded pandemic box office expectations and led to its sequel being greenlit a few weeks later. It remains to be seen if “Dune: Part Two” will also be released on HBO Max the same day it was released in theaters.

On Rotten Tomatoes, “Dune: Part One” currently has an 83% score from critics and a 90% score from audiences. Many of the negative reviews complained about the film’s lengthy run-time at 2 hours and 35 minutes long.

David Reddish of Queerty wrote, “If nothing else, Dune wins its place as a masterpiece of adaptation, truncating roughly half the novel into its runtime to expand the book's monomaniacal focus on Paul into a more ensemble narrative.” Reddish gave the film four out of four stars.

Steph Green of The Digital Fix wrote, “With the best Hans Zimmer score of the past decade and endless crisp tableaus of jaw-dropping cinematography, Denis Villeneuve has delivered and then some of his mission to give Frank Herberts pioneering novel due diligence on the big screen.” Green gave the film four out of five stars.

Dolores Quintana wrote, “Denis Villeneuve's DUNE is the type of epic filmmaking that many reach for and can't grasp. Full of emotional resonance and with the philosophical core of the book coursing through the film's veins like lifeblood, it puts other franchises to shame.”

Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope wrote, “It has been many years since I read the first Dune book, but it seems to me that this movie captures the spirit of that haunting, powerful book. Perhaps the movie is popular for the same reason the book is popular.” Roten gave the film a B score.