Steven Spielberg Shared Glowing Thoughts On The Dune Movies (And Somebody Check On Denis Villeneuve)

The 2026 movie calendar would look very different without Steven Spielberg. He helped define the modern blockbuster and set the standard for large-scale sci-fi storytelling decades ago. So when he talks about what he’s watching now, it tends to carry some weight. Well, someone better check on Denis Villeneuve because after he hears Spielberg’s glowing thoughts about his Dune Movies, he’s probably going to be feeling a particular sort of way.

As it turns out, Steven Spielberg has been paying close attention to Denis Villeneuve’s book-to-screen adaptations of the Dune series. And he’s not just a casual viewer. In a recent interview with Empire, the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial director made it clear he sees the French-Canadian moviemaker’s take on Frank Herbert's classic series of novels as something special. He explained:

Coming from the filmmaker behind Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and one who's so obsessed with aliens and science fiction, that's not light praise. It almost feels like a passing-of-the-torch moment between generations of sci-fi storytellers.

The Oscar-winning director didn’t stop at calling the films some of his all-time favorites. He also pointed to something that has defined Villeneuve’s approach from the start: a clear respect for the source material. He continued:

Bringing up Guillermo del Toro and his approach to Frankenstein, the iconic Hollywood filmmaker is placing the Arrival director in a specific category of filmmakers. Not just directors who adapt well-known material, but ones who treat the material with a kind of reverence that fans immediately recognize.

HBO Max: Plans start from $10.99 a month
HBO Max is the streaming home for the Dune franchise. If you want to see Villeneuve's movies or the TV spinoff you need an HBO Max subscription, so sign up now.

View Deal

That comparison says a lot about how Spielberg views Dune. It’s not just a successful modern sci-fi franchise. In his eyes, it’s a careful translation of a difficult, dense work into something cinematic without losing its identity.

Villeneuve’s adaptation has always been planned as a trilogy, and the upcoming Dune: Part Three is expected to bring that story to a close, bringing the second book in the series, Dune: Messiah, to the big screen. If Spielberg’s reaction is any indication, expectations are only getting higher as the final chapter approaches.

The Schindler’s List director's praise also reinforces how rare this kind of reception is. Big-budget adaptations of beloved books don’t always land with audiences, see the late David Lynch's 1980s attempt at the very same property, and they don’t always earn this level of respect from filmmakers who helped shape the genre in the first place. The fact that the blockbuster pioneer is this enthusiastic about the series sort of proves Villeneuve’s version of Dune has already secured its place among the best sci-fi films of the modern era, and hey, maybe even cinematic history.

For Denis Villeneuve, hearing such a compliment from the Jurassic Park filmmaker is likely surreal. This is the director whose work defined what large-scale storytelling could look like on screen. To now be mentioned alongside filmmakers like del Toro, and to have Dune recognized as one of the Saving Private Ryan filmmaker’s all-time favorites, has got to feel pretty life-affirming, I'd imagine.

Dune: Part Three is set to hit theaters on December 18, 2026, going head-to-head with Avengers: Doomsday. And if the first two films set the foundation, the final installment now carries the weight of finishing something that has already earned the approval of one of cinema’s most influential voices.

As for Steven Spielberg, he too has an upcoming sci-fi flick on the horizon. His alien-conspiracy-theory film Disclosure Day lands in theaters this summer, on June 12, 2026.