Dune: Third time lucky?

Frank Herbert’s messianic tale of  worm-related hi-jinks on Arrakis, the Desert Planet, has already been a sprawling miniseries for the SciFi channel and (most memorably) a giddy gothic epic starring Kyle McLachan and featuring tantric bassman Sting in an amusing space Speedo.

Now, perhaps emboldened by the huge success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Paramount are gearing up to attempt the galaxy-spanning spice saga again. Instead of the weirdo’s weirdo David Lynch at the helm we have actor/director Peter Berg, best remembered as the all-too-mortal bounty hunty hunter Pistol Pete Deeks in Smokin’ Aces. Berg has also directed Will Smith’s nice-looking superhero comedy Hancock which is due for release in July. This new version doesn’t have a script or even a writer yet, but Berg is reportedly promising an entirely different direction than the one Lynch took. The project is slated as a major Summer blockbuster for Paramount with, they say, its theme of finite ecological resources promising to be particularly timely.

This early in production it would be reckless to predict a release date, so I will: Dune will be in cinemas in Summer 2010.