Dune: Part Two is set to resolve the spectacular Dune saga in style. Watch in awe as director Denis Villeneuve stages the final battle between Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and House Harkonnen as the former ascends to the role of 'kwisatz haderach', the prophesied superbeing with the power to unite the entire universe.
Everything about Dune: Part Two is big, from the cast (Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken are just two of the important new additions) to the sweep of Greig Fraser's sun-scorched cinematography and the colossal nature of the effects (the infamous Arrakis sandworms play an even more significant role in this movie).
Little wonder that Villeneuve has described Dune: Part Two as more of an action movie than the first one. Those who've read the book will know exactly what to expect and those who haven't will be stunned at the developments to come.
A film of this size and scale demands more than the standard widescreen treatment. See Dune: Part Two the way it was intended to be seen in premium format IMAX and 4DX, each of which promises to make your Arrakis experience more immersive and visceral than ever. And several of these formats promise viewing experiences that are wholly unique to Cineworld.
Keep on reading to find out more about each format and what it's set to do for the movie.
Be awed by the scale of Arrakis and the sandworms in IMAX
Dune: Part Two, as with the first film, has been captured with IMAX cameras. In some quarters it's been reported that the entirety of Dune: Part Two has been filmed with IMAX cameras. That's a hugely ambitious step up from Dune, 40% of which was said to have been shot on the format.
AP News quotes Villeneuve from the 2023 Las Vegas CinemaCon: “On Dune, we shot several sequences for IMAX, and I simply loved it, so for Dune: Part Two, we pushed it to 100 percent of the movie. Working with the IMAX format was the only way to capture the experience of Arrakis, Giedi Prime and the Imperium for audiences.”
We all know that Villeneuve is secure in his status as a contemporary sci-fi master off the back of Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and the first Dune. The fact that he's invested so much resource into IMAX cinematography demonstrates how he's taken his already impressive technical facilities to the next level, and we know what that promises for us the viewing audience.
It promises a transporting, jaw-dropping experience, unlike anything Villeneuve has delivered before. If you haven't yet experienced IMAX then be sure to break the seal with a viewing of Dune: Part Two as the format invites you to step onto the heat-blasted, spice-inflected wastes of the planet Arrakis.
IMAX's larger-than-usual screens combine with a unique remastering process to produce a residual sharpness and screen clarity unrivalled in any other format. IMAX’s remastering process fully transforms every frame of a film to produce the best possible version of a filmmaker’s vision, and Villeneuve's vision is evidently something to behold.
With dual projection, the image has the perfect balance of warmth and sharpness to draw you into something as close to reality as you have ever experienced. Pin-sharp image clarity synergises with a perfectly tuned integrated sound and speaker system to fully dramatise Arrakis and Paul Atreides' struggle to bring liberation to the Fremen.
IMAX brings rapt, breathless clarity to every facet of Dune: Part Two's gargantuan production, from the crystalline nature of the spice particles shimmering in the Arrakis wind currents to the percussive/vocal onslaught of Hans Zimmer's score. Watching Dune: Part Two in IMAX is no passive experience but an invitation to actively involve oneself in the Dune saga.
If you want to find out more, the following video features a conversation between Villeneuve and his contemporary and friend Christopher Nolan, himself no stranger to the immersive capabilities of IMAX. (Nolan's latest movie Oppenheimer has 13 Oscar nominations to its name and is being tipped to sweep the board in March.) The two filmmakers discuss the resonance and added scope of IMAX and how it emboldens science-fiction storytelling.
4DX stimulates the senses and makes you feel the sands of Arrakis
The thrilling experience of Dune: Part Two in 4DX is one that you won't find anywhere else. That's because 4DX is unique to Cineworld cinemas in the UK and Ireland, so if you truly want to feel the sands of Arrakis on your skin, and you want to absorb the thunderous impact of Paul's battle against the Harkonnens, Cineworld is the place to be.
Villeneuve's film possesses a level of impressive physical heft from the lumbering subterranean movements of the Arrakis sandworms to the hypnotic turning circles of the Spacing Guild's craft. The film translates perfectly into the multi-sensory 4DX format, which uses motion-controlled seats that move, shake and vibrate in time with the on-screen action, whether it's Paul leading the Fremen or the vicious gladiatorial combat of Paul's eventual Harkonnen nemesis Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler).
However, that's only one facet of the 4DX experience. Stimulating effects like water, wind, scent and strobe lighting are also timed to enhance what’s happening on screen, augmenting the palpable Arrakis atmosphere that beats down on Paul and the Fremen as the spice spirals through the air.
Find out more about 4DX and how it works by going behind the screens in the following clip.
Dune: Part Two is released at Cineworld on March 1st and you can book your tickets by clicking the link below.
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