‘Dune’ An Anomaly With 10 Oscar Nominations, Though Denis Villeneuve Snubbed For Directing; Pic Heads Back To Cinemas

deadline.com:

Dune is a three-year-plus battle long-fought, and well won by Denis Villeneuve, even if he was boxed out of the Best Director category at the Oscars.After publicly blasting WarnerMedia over its decision to go theatrical day-and-date with Dune on HBO Max during the pandemic, and then reconciling with the studio on a dynamic release, the director’s sci-fi adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel has landed ten Oscar nominations this morning, including Best Picture, making it the only blockbuster movie to crack the category’s top ten films this year.To date, Dune has grossed close to $400M worldwide, $107.7M of that in U.S./Canada.

Warners is planning to re-release Dune in 300-500 theaters this weekend. Dune returns to HBO Max on March 10 just before final voting which takes place March 17-22 with the ceremony on March 27.Dune‘s ten Oscar noms is the most ever for financier and producer Legendary Entertainment, and the same number as Warner’s Mad Max Fury Road, another beloved big grossing Oscar Picture nominee, which took home 6 trophies and counted a $375.6M global gross.Even though Villeneuve was snubbed in Oscar’s Best Director category which includes Steven Spielberg (West Side Story), Jane Campion (Power of the Dog), Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Villeneuve received an Adapted Screenplay nod for Dune, shared with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, and a Best Picture nomination which the Canadian filmmakers is sharing with Mary Parent and Cale Boyter.

Villeneuve is in the running for Dune at the DGA awards.Dune was also nominated for Cinematography, Production Design, Editing, Costume Design, Make-up/hairstyling, Original Score, VFX, and Sound.