Dune movies ranked by Rotten Tomatoes score

We’re just days away from Dune 2 landing in cinemas worldwide, and with reviews now out, here’s how the sequel compares to 2021’s Dune, and 1984’s Dune, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Published by Frank Herbert in 1965, Dune was supposedly an unfilmable novel, and David Lynch didn’t have much fun when adapting the book in 1984, with his movie both a critical and commercial failure.

But Denis Villeneuve has had more joy, splitting the tome in two, and scoring with critics and audiences alike with Dune: Part One in 2021.

The saga continues on March 1, 2024, via the release of Dune: Part Two. And you can see how the films compare via their ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dune movies ranked by Rotten Tomatoes score

We’ve listed the Dune movies in release order, though as you can see, those Rotten Tomatoes scores also increase over time.

• Dune (1984) – 37%
• Dune: Part One (2021) – 83%
• Dune: Part Two (2024) – 97%

Here’s how the audience scores compare, with Dune 2’s pending.

• Dune (1984) – 65%
• Dune: Part One (2021) – 90%
• Dune: Part Two (2024) – ???

The David Lynch effort scores nearly twice as much with audiences, though that doesn’t mean the director much likes the movie. Lynch has spent the last 40 years expressing his displeasure with how his Dune turned out. While he summed it up in 2020, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “It was a heartache for me. It was a failure and I didn’t have final cut. I’ve told this story a billion times. It’s not the film I wanted to make. I like certain parts of it very much — but it was a total failure for me.”

Dune 2: What we thought

The audience score might not be available yet, but we’ve seen Dune: Part Two, and had this to say in the Dexerto review: “This is the closest we’ve come to experiencing the sights Roy Batty vowed we wouldn’t believe; clews of gigantic sandworms tearing through vast deserts, colossal spacecraft that feel tiny because the vistas are so enormous.

“Villeneuve completely blurs the line between CGI and practical effects, and with its trademark brutalist style, he establishes a tangible, textural reality; Dune should be in the same conversation as Avatar in that regard.”

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