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Despite the commercial success of “Dune: Part Two,” in a recent interview, Denis Villeneuve lamented that Warner Bros. had rejected his original proposed title of “Dune 2: 2 Dune 2 Handle.”
“It’s 2 bad, because I really thought that we had a winner in that title. I knew I wanted a title that expressed that it was Dune but the second one, and that’s when it hit me,” said Villeneuve, displaying analyst diagrams that estimated ‘Dune 2: 2 Dune 2 Handle’ would have achieved 130% more box office sales than the final title. “When the execs came back 2 me with ‘Dune: Part Two’ as a more approachable title, I was floored. Where was the poetry? The numeric repetition? The implication of a sensory experience far greater than what can be fathomed?”
“I tried 2 fight it, of course. I talked 2 my agent along with my producers and explained 2 them that my artistic vision from the get-go was driven by the expected title ’Dune 2: 2 Dune 2 Handle,’” continued Villeneuve, dressed head 2 toe in rare Dune merchandise bearing the rejected original name riding a sand worm. “They basically told me 2 let it go, that their hands were tied, and there was nothing 2 be done about it. It’s hard 2 see creativity get squashed by corporate greed.”
At press time, Villeneuve excitedly announced the third film of the Dune trilogy to be titled “Dune 3’s A Crowd.”
