On 8th July 2026 Warner Bros held a Global IMAX Fan Event, planned for 10 cities across 5 countries: LA, New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Toronto, Montréal, London, Berlin, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi. I say planned as the New York one was unfortunately cancelled at the last minute.
But fans in the other 9 locations were treated to the new trailer, a live-streamed Q&A with Denis Villeneuve and Timothée Chalamet, and some other footage which included the first 5 minutes or so of the movie (which was also shown at CinemaCon and CineEurope earlier this year.)
I’ve tried to detail this opening below, using images from the various trailers where possible. Having only seen the footage once I’ve no doubt made several mistakes and omissions, but hopefully you’ll find it interesting.
Opening Scene
There was no opening subtitle like the “Dreams are messages from the deep” or “Power over Spice is power over all” titles from Dune: Part One and Part Two. We go straight into the usual Warner Bros and Legendary logos, while we hear what at first sounds like a thumper, but the rhythm gets faster and faster until it is a racing heartbeat.
We cut to the interior of a ship full of Fremen warriors. Some are praying. One holds a water ring on a necklace. Another is reading from a small book similar to Gurney had in Part One, although it seems doubtful that a Fremen would be reading a copy of the Orange Catholic Bible. There is a young scared man who asks if water really falls from the sky, and another solider comforts him, assuring him he’ll be OK. At the feet of some Fremen is a large box, and sat across from Stilgar we see Farok for the first time.
A shot from within a larger ship shows many smaller crafts dropping away from the camera towards the planet’s surface, then the camera also “drops”, following the other ships.
The ships head towards the surface, some being destroyed by lightening strikes as they pass through the clouds. The ones that make it through pull up at the last moment to skim across water.
Back inside the ship, as they prepare to land, Farok leads the Fremen in the War Chant we heard in the first trailer. The craft lands, the door opens and they step outside. Stilgar leads his team across the empty terrain. He pauses, studies the featureless landscape for a moment then suddenly orders his men to get down.
As they hit the ground, laser blasts pass overhead, obliterating the ship behind them, as well as the remaining Fremen that were still leaving it. Stilgar shouts “Take cover,” and his group run behind an object. As they catch their breath a Fremen declares the rain “a miracle”.
Stilgar crawls under the object and, looking through his binoculars, sees the source of the incoming fire: a laser turret. As he watches the turret stops, closes up and drops back into the ground … and a HUGE oval tower rises behind it, blasts streaming from multiple points on its surface, bombarding the Fremen army.
The scared Fremen from earlier makes a break for it and runs back towards their ships, explosions erupting all around him until his luck runs out and he is struck by a blast.
Stilgar calls out some numbers from the binoculars, seemingly targeting co-ordinates as we see the tower suddenly turn red as Fremen weaponry penetrate the shield.
Stilgar is passed a handheld weapon – this is referred to as the “shield piercer” and that it is “hot”. This weapon could be the contents of the box seen earlier in the trailer, and also seen being carried by Fremen through the battlefield. Others speculate that this could contain a Stone Burner to be used later in the scene.
Stilgar says it’ll require all three shots for the target. He fires the three projectiles, but they all bounce off the shield; one returns towards the Fremen and inflicts some friendly-fire damage.
Farok becomes trapped as a nearby explosion collapses the cover they are under. The footage ends as the tower floats ominously directly over the Fremen.
Conclusion
The opening is an intense action scene, which many have compared it to the Omaha Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan, and provides a glimpse into Paul’s Jihad Holy War.
Did you see the footage shown at the fan event? What have I missed or got wrong? Please let us know in the comments below.