Paramount parts ways with “Dune”
Another one bites the dust in Development Hell. Per Deadline:
Paramount has turned loose the giant worm, and everything else that was part of the seminal Frank Herbert science fiction novel series Dune. The studio’s four-year attempt to make a movie out of the franchise has fallen by the wayside. Paramount and the rights holders came to a parting of the ways as the rights lapsed. “Paramount’s option has expired and we couldn’t reach an agreement,” said Richard P. Rubinstein, who controls the rights to what is considered the biggest-selling science fiction book ever. “I’m going to look at my options, and whether I wind up taking the script we developed in turnaround, or start over, I’m not sure yet.”
Four years. God knows how many dollars spent in script development. And at the end of the day, my guess is with all the script drafts, research facts and figures, meetings with development people, production people, marketing people, all of that information side of the business, it came down to a gut decision by the head of production: I don’t think this is worth it. Better to fold now rather than stay in for the long haul and end up with a bomb.
It probably didn’t help that the original Dune movie didn’t do very well: $30M B.O. / $40M prod budget.
Nor the recent fate of Mars Needs Moms, a stark reminder of what can happen when you spend $150M on a risky project.
Finally there’s this: Some novels prove virtually impossible to adapt into a good movie. Perhaps “Dune” is one of them.
For more of the Deadline article on “Dune,” go here.