The release of the new film Dune was met with a frosty reception to say the least. The film had the amazing Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming) acting as the main face of the promo in the build up to its release. However, fans were not happy were when they were met with Zendaya having a mere 7 minutes of screen time, and they took to Twitter to express their feelings.
Many fans made their opinions heard, and they were definitely not holding back! Some fans even went as far as to call the blockbuster “a scam”. But can we blame them? With the build up being so purely focused on Zendaya, you can appreciate the upset from the fans that were expecting her to be the protagonist of the film.
However, the fans did get something back, as director Dennis Villeuneve has responded to the backlash with a statement announcing that there will be a sequel to the film where Zendaya will be adopt a more central role. But that still didn’t sit right with some fans, as they questioned why Zendaya had such a big part in the promo to the first film, to be the main character into the sequel to the movie.
Villeuneve also told The Los Angeles Times: “There are some characters that are less developed that I’m keeping for the second film—that’s the way I found the equilibrium. We tried in this movie to stay as close as possible to Paul’s experience. Then, in the second one, I will have time to develop some characters that were left aside a little bit. That’s the theory. I hope it will work.”
Could this have been his goal all along, or has the promo backlash caused a change of plans? Either way, perhaps Zendaya should not have played such a huge role in the promotion of the film with such a minor appearance. Fans now have to wait for the sequel to see if they’re satisfied with how much screentime Zendaya will get, which still is extremely disappointing for some!