HBO Max to Release ‘Dune’ One Day Early

Your flight to Arrakis is leaving one day early. Today, HBO Max unveiled a new streaming release date for Denis Villeneuve‘s star-studded Dune. Along with the evening premieres around the country on Thursday, Dune will release on HBO Max early on Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. ET. That may not be a whole lot earlier — but, hey, if you go see Dune in a theater on Thursday night, you can go home and immediately start rewatching your favorite scenes. That’s a win!

Dune has already released all over the world, debuting at major film festivals in Venice and New York and rounding up some of the best reviews of the year. It’s surely one that can’t be missed. Although director Villeneuve has been an intense advocate of seeing his sci-fi epic in theaters, if you can’t make it out for any reason (i.e. the ongoing global pandemic), the movie will stream simultaneously on HBO Max for 31 days after its debut.

Based on Frank Herbert’s novel series of the same name, Dune follows a young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he embarks on a journey to save a planet with some of the most valuable spices ever. Combining elements of fantasy, coming-of-age, and drama, Dune promises a legendary retelling of one of the most famous sci-fi stories of all time.

Along with Chalamet, the jam-packed cast also includes Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson as his parents, Duke Leto and Lady Jessica, as well as Zendaya as his Arrakis-based love interest. Further, the film stars Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Jason Momoa, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem.

The news that Dune would premiere earlier than expected was revealed, interestingly, via a push notification sent to users of the HBO Max app. Decider has reached out to HBO Max to confirm, but did not hear back as of press time.

Dune will debut on HBO Max on Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. on the ad-free only tier, where it will stream for 31 days. You can subscribe to HBO Max now for $14.99 per month — again, if you want to watch Dune, be sure to select the ad-free tier. Scroll up to watch the trailer for Dune.