CinemaCon 2026: “Dune: Part Three” Roars Onto the CinemaCon Stage in What Denis Villeneuve Calls a Thriller

Director Denis Villeneuve, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, and Jason Momoa took the stage at CinemaCon on Tuesday night in Las Vegas to discuss their upcoming epic Dune: Part Three. Then they unleashed the first seven minutes of the film during Warner Bros. presentation, revealing the more muscular, action-packed film that Villeneuve had teased only a month ago at a press event in Los Angeles.

Villeneuve told the audience he sees Part Three as a thriller and teased, “It’s more intense and definitely more emotional.”

Chalamet, speaking about his character Paul Atreides, said, “He’s become his worst vision…becoming an all-powerful emperor of the dark universe.”

Zendaya added, “The years don’t seem to have been kind to anyone on Dune. It’s been an ungentle and unkind few years. There’s so much left to fight for. That youthful outlook is completely gone.”

Momoa’s presence in the film is intriguing, considering his character, Duncan Idaho, died in Dune: Part One. Momoa’s back because Idaho has been cloned. “I’m sent as a gift to Paul to see how he handles someone that he hasn’t seen and see how he takes that.”

The footage revealed in the Warner Bros. presentation certainly spoke to their comments. The first seven minutes showed Javier Bardem’s Stillgar leading his troops against a massive enemy. The battle that ensued was ferocious. While the sequence showcased enormous firepower, what came after the first seven minutes might have proved more intense.

Additional footage unveiled at the presentation showed former lovers—and now adversaries—Paul Atreides (Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) facing off. “How does it feel to be human like everyone else, Paul Atreides?” Chani says. In another moment, Momoa’s cloned Duncan Idaho, now called Hayt, tells Paul Atreides, “You’ve conquered the galaxy. You’ve destroyed thousands of worlds.” Paul asks, “What are your thoughts on that?” Hayt’s reply gives us a hint at just how far gone Paul’s oldest friends and former confidants think he is. “I think you’re way beyond redemption,” Hayt says.

“It’s a very different movie from the first ones,” Villeneuve explained to an audience of select journalists in Los Angeles at an event in mid-March to premiere the first trailer for the final film in his trilogy. Revealing that it has “a different tone, a different rhythm, and a different pace,” he continued, “The first movie was more a contemplation, the second one was a war movie, and this one is more action-packed, more tense, and more muscular.”

The last time we saw Paul, Chani, and the rest of these intergalactic battlers was in Dune: Part Two, which earned Villeneuve three of his four Oscar nominations. Paul had joined the Fremen people to help them fight for their freedom from the Harkonnen Empire, only to be drawn into a holy war with the Great Houses. Based on Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune Messiah,” and set 17 years later, Dune: Part Three sees Chalamet return as a transformed Atreides, now with enemies within his old orbit and without.

Returning for the third film are Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides, Paul’s sister, and Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan. The biggest addition to the cast is Robert Pattinson, playing master shapeshifter Scytale. As well as the returning cast, legendary composer Hans Zimmer will once again provide the score, which, like the film, Villeneuve warns fans will be tonally very different.

Dune: Part Three is set for a December 18 release.

Featured image: Caption: ZENDAYA as Chani in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “DUNE: PART THREE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures