‘Dune: Part Three’s’ Opening Scene Is Already Being Called an Intergalactic Saving Private Ryan

Denis Villeneuve has spent two films building ‘Dune‘ into one of the most visually ambitious science fiction sagas in modern cinema, and the pressure on the trilogy closer has only grown since Warner Bros. locked in a December release date. Fans have waited years to see how Paul Atreides’ story concludes, and with the cinematographer change behind the scenes, plenty of eyes were on whether ‘Dune Part Three’ could maintain the scale that made the first two entries so unforgettable.

That anticipation reached a fever pitch after Warner Bros. gave attendees at a recent trailer event an early look at the film’s opening sequence. What they saw left journalists and industry insiders scrambling to describe just how intense the footage actually was.

The consensus that emerged almost immediately was that Villeneuve had crafted something resembling ‘Saving Private Ryan’ set among the stars. The comparison has been repeated across multiple outlets that witnessed the footage, all zeroing in on the same brutal, disorienting battlefield energy that defined Steven Spielberg’s iconic war film.

The sequence reportedly opens with a fleet of ships launching through a violent storm, some struck by lightning and destroyed before they even reach the surface. Once the surviving ships land on a rain soaked planet, Javier Bardem’s Stilgar leads a group of Fremen warriors into a devastating firefight, and the ensuing chaos is described as visceral and unrelenting.

Villeneuve himself set the tone for the footage before it played, explaining that silence carries enormous power for him as a filmmaker. He told the crowd that while the scene would not qualify as a silent film outright, there’s not a lot of dialogue in it, according to Dexerto.

That quiet, tense buildup apparently makes the eventual chaos hit even harder. Reports describe soldiers nervously fidgeting with personal totems, reading small books, or praying together in the moments before the ships touch down, only for the calm to shatter the instant Stilgar leads his troops into the rain and directly into enemy fire.

Part of what makes the opening so striking is how it fits into Villeneuve’s broader vision for the trilogy. He has previously described the first film as meditative and contemplative, while framing the second as more of a war film, suggesting that the third installment pushes even further into large-scale conflict while still finding room for intimate, human moments.

The footage also introduces some fresh faces and reintroduces familiar ones in new forms. Jason Momoa returns not as the original Duncan Idaho, but as Hayt, a character built from Duncan’s cells and positioned as a kind of test for how far Paul Atreides has drifted from who he once was. Zendaya’s Chani also factors into the early footage, continuing her arc as one of the emotional anchors of the story.

The story reportedly jumps forward seventeen years and draws from Dune Messiah, tracking Paul as he grapples with the consequences of the visions and choices that consumed him across the first two films. Timothée Chalamet has suggested that his character has changed dramatically since audiences last saw him, framing this chapter as a reckoning with everything Paul has become.

There is also a practical reason this opening scene needed to work as spectacularly as it apparently did. Cinematographer Greig Fraser, whose work helped define the visual identity of the first two ‘Dune’ films, did not return for the third installment, leaving some fans nervous about whether the franchise could maintain its signature look. His replacement, Linus Sandgren, has a resume that includes collaborations with Damien Chazelle and Emerald Fennell, and early reactions suggest he has more than risen to the occasion.

The footage was reportedly shot on 70mm IMAX film, and audiences will get an early physical preview of it ahead of screenings of ‘The Odyssey’ when that film opens in IMAX theaters. It is a rare bit of cross-promotion between two of the year’s biggest event films, and it gives fans a chance to see a piece of ‘Dune Part Three’ months before its full theatrical release.

With ‘Dune Part Three’ set to open on December 18 opposite another massive blockbuster, expectations for this opening sequence alone have already reached a fever pitch. If the reactions to this early footage are any indication, Villeneuve may have found a way to make his trilogy closer feel even more punishing and immersive than anything that came before it.

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