Upcoming Star Wars Film vs. Dune: Messiah on December 18, 2026
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3raPdxBb29Ql3Q5oVnUzHH?si=m1YfuatHSkO3udTvnhsucw
In an interesting development, Warner Brothers and Legendary made the somewhat ambiguous announcement that an upcoming co-produced "event film" from director Denis Villeneuve will be released on December 18th, 2026. The fact that this film has not been titled has led to people questioning whether this could be the much-anticipated Dune: Messiah or a different project.
The December 18th, 2026 date is a little interesting. It does make sense since Dune: Messiah will have a lot more pre-production work than Dune: Part Two since Dune: Part One already had a lot of the design work done. Also, that December date has become an incubator for box office hits over the last decade or so, even if Dune: Messiah is not quite the bombastic sequel that Dune: Part Two was. The fact that the date is right before Christmas and January is a bit of a theatrical dead period (not so much in the last four years or so) does open up a movie to have a very strong opening with legs to carry it to a massive haul.
That said, there is already a movie slated for that release date, and that is "Untitled Star Wars Film" that does not have a title attached to it. We know that The Mandalorian and Grogu is slated for release in May of 2026, however Lucasfilm has already said essentially that there will be a Star Wars film on that date, even if they don't know exactly which one it is yet. The most likely candidate will be the yet-officially titled New Jedi Order movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and starring Daisy Ridley reprising as Rey Skywalker (kiss my ass, it's canon) since that is closest to production, however it could also be Filoni's Heir to the Empire movie wrapping up the New Republic-era stories or James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi.
I think the decision to list this as an untitled movie comes from the Star Wars ambiguity, namely that it is unclear at this point if Lucasfilm will actually release a movie on that date or if they kick the can down the road another few months into 2027 or beyond. The more meditative nature of Dune: Messiah makes the December release date a potential good move for awards season, but putting it up against a Star Wars movie people may show up for due to nostalgia for the sequel trilogy (it'll be 11 years since The Force Awakens at that point) is definitely a losing battle. That said, Disney would probably be better off moving the 2026 movie to 2027 and adding another date to 2028 but announcing which movie will be coming out when. Disney as a whole needs to stop with the "untitled (studio) movie" nonsense and actually date stuff because it is unfair to the rest of the industry (both studios and exhibitors) in situations when the untitled movies on these dates may not ever actually materialize. That said, should Disney not move off this date, the fact that it is an untitled co-production with Legendary means it could pivot to be the Nuclear War movie that he's directing which would be cheaper and could release the same week as a Star Wars film without shifting release dates again.
