Denis Villeneuve's Next Movie Gets 2026 Release Date: Is It Dune Messiah?

Villeneuve's next theatrical endeavor arrives on December 18th, 2026.

By Liam Crowley

Denis Villeneuve has cemented himself as one of Hollywood's most unique filmmakers. While he is no stranger to franchises, having helmed remakes like Dune and sequels such as Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve's catalog of original stories such as Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival have put him in prestigious company. Like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan, two directors who are able to sell their films on their name value alone, Villeneuve has become a director that audiences flock to regardless of what the story is. While Villeneuve's latest project, Dune Part Two, only hit theaters a couple of months ago, Warner Bros. and Legendary are wasting no time in planting a flag for his next theatrical endeavor.

Denis Villeneuve's Next Project Set For December 2026

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(Photo: Jan Thijs)

Audiences have just over two years to wait until Denis Villeneuve's next project hits theaters.

As announced by Warner Bros., Villeneuve's next "event film" is slated for a December 18th, 2026 theatrical release. This mystery project will be produced by Legendary Entertainment, the same production company that worked on Villeneuve's Dune and Dune: Part Two.

Is Denis Villeneuve's Mystery Film Dune Messiah?

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(Photo: From Matt Griffin's cover art for hardcover deluxe edition of Dune Messiah, published by Ace Books)

Villeneuve had previously mentioned that a live-action adaptation of Dune: Messiah, the next installment in Dune's novelized chronology, would depend on the success of Dune: Part Two. Given the sequel's astronomical $711 million global box office haul as well as its near-immaculate Rotten Tomatoes scores (92 percent critic score, 95 percent audience score), Dune Messiah feels like an inevitability.

That said, Villeneuve has stressed that he "[does not] want to rush" the next Dune film. Beyond that, Villeneuve has pointed to the fact that Dune Messiah takes place 12 years after the original Dune book, and he therefore is considering waiting for leading man Timothée Chalamet to age appropriately before returning to the franchise.

Denis Villeneuve's Nuclear War Film Explained

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The other option for this mystery project is Nuclear War: A Scenario.

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This past April, reports surfaced that Legendary Entertainment is optioning Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen's Nuclear War: A Scenario, a story that explores how a nuclear war would unfold based on interviews conducted with military and civilian experts who have knowledge of the real-world response plans. The latest on Nuclear War's development is that Villeneuve is expected to join as director.

Villeneuve has previously said that his next project will be outside of the Dune franchise, which points to Nuclear War being the project that lands this December 2026 date. That said, it's possible that the financial and critical success of Dune: Part Two has led to Warner Bros. and Legendary accelerating production plans.

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