'Dune' director proves long runtime panicking wrong

Eyebrows were raised over the Dune franchise's runtime, but Denis Villeneuve proved the sceptics wrong with his Dune: Part Two, which clocked in at 166 minutes and successfully grossed over $700 miilion globally at box-office.

During an interview with The Sunday Times, the Canadian filmmaker said, "This was the only way I could succeed. Also, think of 'Oppenheimer.' It is a three-hour, rated-R movie about nuclear physics that is mostly talking. But the public was young –- that was the movie of the year by far for my kids."

Previously, Denis opened up about the chances of the third instalment in the fantasy franchise.

"It's also about making sure that I have the right screenplay. I have four projects on the table, currently. One of them is a secret project that I cannot talk about right now, but that needs to see the light of day quite quickly," the 56-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter.

He continued, "So it would be a good idea to do something in between projects, before tackling Dune Messiah and Cleopatra. All these projects are still being written, so we'll see where they go, but I have no control over that."