More footage out of CinemaCon, and this time it shows off the stellar cast and sandworms of director Denis Villeneuve's Dune. Audiences have been waiting for what feels like an eternity to find out whether Villeneuve's efforts have yielded an adaptation worthy of Frank Herbert's seminal literary work, and based on the descriptions of the footage, it's good news...

Described as "stunning," the footage shown at the CinemaCon event depicts "Paul Atreides (Chalamet), Duke Leto Atreides (Isaac), Gurney Halleck (Brolin), and Liet Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) on a rescue mission." Traversing the desert landscapes of the planet Arrakis, they discover "a broken down Harvester ship - a massive, rectangular vehicle which has left a trail from its path to this spot and can't move anymore." Unfortunately for our heroes (but luckily for us) a giant sandworm is on its way, ready to devour the vehicle and anyone residing within it. In his determination, Leto leaps into action, flying his "dragonfly-like craft" towards the Harvester. Paul meanwhile "is consumed by sand in the wind, golden sparkles surrounding him and all, eventually being hypnotized by whispers and collapsing to his knees. Before long, he must rush back to his father's craft and jet out, as the worm has arrived."

Then, it's the moment you've all be waiting for, as the sandworm arrives, emerging from the sand below. Everything starts to sink into its huge, gaping mouth "revealing its hundreds of teeth emerging like needles and consuming everything in its way." This sequence sounds very similar to a sequence from the source novel, and should hopefully assure fans of Denis Villeneuve's approach to adapting the beloved work.

The report describes the footage as summarizing "the ambitious scope" of the Dune, with the director aiming to keep everything "as practical as possible," despite the grand, sci-fi nature of the setting. The sizzle reel then cuts to snippets of other footage from the movie, showing "more action beats, some of which involve hand-to-hand combat with futuristic suits of armor and others see flying crafts crashing into one another and chaos ensuing."

Dune will introduce audiences to the far future of humanity, as Duke Leto Atreides accepts stewardship of the dangerous desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, the only source of the most valuable substance in the universe, "the spice", a drug which extends human life, provides superhuman levels of thought, and makes faster-than-light travel practical. Though Leto knows the opportunity is an intricate trap set by his enemies, he takes his Bene Gesserit concubine Lady Jessica, young son and heir Paul, and most trusted advisers to Arrakis. Leto takes control of the spice mining operation, which is made perilous by the presence of giant sandworms.

The adaptation has amassed a stellar ensemble cast, including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.

After a series of delays, Dune is now scheduled to have its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021, and will be released theatrically in the United States in 3D on October 22, 2021 by Warner Bros. Pictures with a simultaneous release on the HBO Max streaming service for 31 days. This comes to us courtesy of Comicbook.com.