'Dune' IMAX event shows first 10 minutes of film

LOS ANGELES, July 21 (UPI) -- On Wednesday and Thursday Dune fans will get to see exclusive footage from the upcoming movie on IMAX screens. Warner Bros. showed press the preview on Monday ahead of the public screenings, showing how the film will incorporate footage filmed for IMAX theaters.

The presentation begins with the first ten minutes of the film. The opening images arrive with drum sounds and vocal chants. Chani (Zendaya) speaks the first lines in narration.

"My planet Arrakis is so beautiful when the sun is low," she says. "Rolling over the sands you can see spice in the air."

Scenes on the planet Arrakis appear on the full five story IMAX frame. Chani wears a breathing apparatus and her men battle Harkonnen soldiers in the sand.

The Harkonnen leave Arrrakis, hundreds of troops entering transport ships in formation. The film then cuts to planet Caladan in the year 10191.

Caladan scenes do not fill the IMAX screen. They are widescreen across the center.

Paul Adreides (Timothee Chalamet) wakes up on Caladan and then has breakfast with his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). At breakfast, Lady Jessica introduces the concept of Gesserit powers of mind control. You'll have to watch to find out if Paul is successful at controlling his mother.

In a military ceremony, representatives of Harkonnen grant Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) control of Arrakis. The premise is to bring peace, but in actuality they are robbing Fremen of their natural resources.

We also learn that spice powers interstellar travel. The Fremen of Arrakis have adapted the the spice laden desert environment.

Denis Villeneuve directed Dune and adapted Frank Herbert's novel with Jon Spaihts. Villeneuve introduced the footage in a video introduction, and continued to show another scene from later in the film.

This sequence on Arrakis also took advantage of full IMAX frames. Villaneuve said the second scene shows "sometimes nature can mirror our deep need to belong in the world."

Paul, Gurney (Josh Brolin), Leto and Liet-Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) arrive on the planet in a ship flying by way of four sets of flapping insect-like wings. They are there to rescue a downed crawler.

A crawler is a giant tank that harvests spice from the sand. The tracks of its treads in the sand fill the IMAX frame as it stalls with smoke emoting.

The Atreideses have to rescue the harvesters before sand worms show up. They can spot the ripples of an approaching worm in the distance.

On the ground, Paul holds some sand in his hand and can see the red granules of spice interspersed with it. While harvesters try to harvest as much as they can before the rescue, Leto says, "Damn the spice." Paul directs them to rescue ships.

By the end of the sequence, the sand worm's mouth fills the IMAX screen as it swallows the crawler.

Villeneuve also interviewed Hans Zimmer about his score. Zimmer said he found it strange that other movies about intergalactic empires all used the same familiar horn sounds. So Zimmer said he invented new instruments for Dune, but retained the human voice, hence the chants heard in the opening.

The presentation ended with a new trailer for Dune. It featured new footage of an attack on the House Atreides and Duncan Idaho battling enemies one one one. Duncan also mocks Paul for his lack of muscle and calls him "my boy" similar to how Momoa's Aquaman called Cyborg "my man" in Justice League.

The trailer also includes Chani's narration from the beginning. She continues, "The outsiders ravage the land in front of our eyes. Their cruelty is all I've known."

Paul has been dreaming of Chani, only knowing she's a girl on Arrakis.

Dune opens October 22 in theaters, including IMAX engagements, and on HBO Max.