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'Dune: Part Three' Footage Stuns CinemaCon - Compared to Brutal '90s War Classic

By Judah Carroll Men's Journal

CinemaCon, an annual convention for studios to preview their upcoming releases with theater companies and press, is being held this week in Las Vegas. Panels include appearances from cast and crew and first looks at trailers, footage or sometimes even entire films before release. The biggest studios like The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures usually dominate the discourse, highlighting large tentpole films.

Tuesday night, Warner Bros. concluded night two of the convention at Caesars Palace with a panel featuring massive projects like upcoming DC Studios films Supergirl and Clayface. WB finished its presentation with one of the most highly anticipated films of the entire convention that is now certainly the most talked about on Wednesday: Dune: Part Three.

Stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Jason Momoa appeared at the panel alongside writer-director of the trilogy, Denis Villeneuve. Additionally, attendees were then given the honor of viewing the first seven minutes of the film. Since that footage finished rolling, it has dominated talk around the convention, with viewers at a loss for words at what they witnessed.

According to all accounts, the film opens with a massive war scene showing the scope of what is now reality since Paul Atreides has become emperor and has started the Holy War across the galaxy. Attendees are praising the brutal action sequence, with many comparing it to the opening of Steven Spielberg's World War II classic Saving Private Ryan.

Details of the Opening Seven Minutes

Spoilers for the opening scene of Dune: Part Three!

A full summary of what the audience saw from media personality Brandon Davis of the Brand Davis Show.

"The thumping sound played over the opening credits before we are thrust into the skies, seeing ships zip through a thunderstorm ... some unsuccessfully as lightning strikes them down. A number of them evade and make it lower to the ground, hovering a few feet from the surface while zipping forward at a fast pace," Davis posted on X.

"Now inside the ships, we see soldiers ... Stilgar is with them. The soldiers try to find optimism in the water falling from the sky as a part of their prophecy. They unleash a chant, a war cry - it is the tune from the musical score in the trailers. The ship arrives. The ramps open and the soldiers are shocked and happy to see water fall from the sky as they described. They march out, two in the rear carrying a black case.

Eventually, they halt. A vicious, relentless wave of massive rounds blasts through them - eviscerating some and launching others into the sky to blow apart into pieces of mist as this massive caliber weapon is so large, fast and fiery that it blows through them and starts fires. As the weapon blasting at them rises in a pile of the ground emerging from the planet, the men push forward and try to dodge the ammo flying toward them. Some reach a place to hide and take cover, black case with them.

Stilgar uses binoculars to look at the weapon blasting them and calls out how far away it is. Stilgar's insights allow for a massive weapon of their own to blast the weapons and pillars on which they stand. The explosion of their weapon hitting them prompts a silence as the sky turns red before an explosion illuminates it with the burn and is heard by the soldiers and audience.

Stilgar tries to blast a rocket of his own at those weapons, but it is sent back at him, prompting the weapon to turn its aim to the cover the men had been taking. Some of them are eviscerated ... one man tries to run and another calls to him, begging him not to, accurately expecting that he will be wrecked by the blasts.

In a more trailer-like turn for the footage, Paul asks Hayt (Momoa's revived Duncan) what he knows about him and what he thinks. Hayt knows that Paul has risen to power and admits, ‘I think you're way beyond redemption.' We see Anya Taylor-Joy reading cards, Robert Pattinson describes a cloud that is blocking his vision and not allowing him to ‘see beyond this moment.' We see Chani and Paul come face to face ... prompting Paul to point a weapon at her as she asks him how it feels to be human like the rest of everyone else. We see shots of various characters, action beats, Paul and Chani possibly standing off in a desert - a different location from the dark, dimly red-lit room from their earlier interaction - and a thunderous sandworm to wrap up the footage."

It is only seven minutes, but it has highly impressed audiences who saw it.

Dune: Part Three concludes Villeneuve's epic Dune trilogy, releasing Dec. 18.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Apr 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

2026 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 1:38 PM.

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