THB #8: Trilogy Madness

Halloween Kills and Dune and Newark, oh my!

Did Jason Kilar just save Legendary Entertainment, as it is currently constituted, by paying to force Dune to a day-n-date HBO Max launch?

I kinda think so. What does the already troubled Legendary look like if they take a $75m - $100m loss on Dune?

I’m not reviewing Dune here. I am a huge fan of Denis Villeneuve. The film is stunningly beautiful. It does what most big action movies fail to do… it takes it’s time and it pulls the audience into the movie… slowly. And I get why an artist, with a capital A, who has found success with his style when others questioned whether it would sell, would want to do Dune his way.

I would love to see Denis Villeneuve’s complete take on Dune. But I don’t have to pay for it.

The only way there is a second Dune movie from Denis V. is if Legendary is so shook that it bets the entire company on whether the second film in the trilogy is an action masterpiece that can become am $800m+ worldwide grosser in 2024 or so. This film is not going to be a giant au…