Dune: Part 2 delayed to 2024

This world is beyond cruelty. Warner Bros. has bumped back Dune: Part 2 in the wake of the continuing (and thoroughly correct) SAG-AFTRA strikes. Instead of its original date of November 3, 2023, the sci-fi epic is heading for a March 15, 2024 release.

It’s a move that suggests no resolution in sight for the ongoing dispute. Both the writers and actors’ unions are holding out for fairer conditions and less insidious studio practices, while the AMPTP are holding out to not give them that.

Dune: Part 2’s delay was an inevitability. If it did release during the strike, union rules prohibit its actors, including Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet, from doing any promotion. There probably wouldn't have been a red carpet, either.

The delay reflects growing studio desperation. Warner Bros. has already sunk a ton of money into hype-building trailers and marketing, which it’ll now have to spend all over again closer to the March 15 release date.

It’s not the only strike casualty. The studio also announced it's moving Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire from March 15 to April 12, 2024, and animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim from April 12, 2024 to Dec. 13, 2024.

It remains to be seen whether this will cause a domino effect on the rest of the year’s blockbusters, which include The Marvels, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Wonka.

Ah well. There's always our Dune: Part Two trailer breakdown to watch over and over again in the meantime.