By DANIEL ARKIN
Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic lands in theaters with big hype. But fans of the novel have been burned before, and the U.S. box office is still shaky.
Donald Riggs has been obsessed with Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune” for more than 40 years. He first read the book in 1977, when he was 24, intoxicated by Herbert’s heady mix of environmentalism, philosophy, religion and psychedelia.
Riggs, an English professor at Drexel University who teaches courses about “Dune,” plans to see the new big-budget movie adaptation when it hits theaters and HBO Max on Friday. But ahead of the debut, he said, he is feeling tentative that it will live up to his expectations.
“I would say I’m cautiously optimistic,” Riggs said with a laugh.
“Dune” aficionados know all too well that Herbert’s famously complex and lengthy sci-fi epic has repeatedly proven difficult to bring to the screen, foiling maverick filmmakers’ plans and disappointing many lifelong fans of the book.
Herbert’s devoted readers are not the only people keeping their fingers crossed that Denis Villeneuve’s film version — a 155-minute saga about a messianic young hero in a world of spice mining and giant sandworms — delivers the proverbial goods.