History Trivia / Dune1984

* ReferencedBy: Creator/LinksTheSun made a ''50/50''[[note]]One of his recurring shows, which consists in a film's detailed summary followed by a review of five good points and five flaws sorted by how prominent they are[[/note]] about the film. The video's prologue is a humorous summary of the film's chaotic preproduction introduced by a parody of Irulan's expospeak introduction. The review itself is globaly negative, Links notably considering the film suffers from both an excess of {{Infodump}} ''and'' being almost incomprehensible to neophytes despite being full of {{Infodump}}.

** Toys/FunkoPop released a figure of Paul with his SandWorm taming gear as well as two of Feyd-Rautha (one with nothing but the infamous speedo and the other with his suit).

* StillbornFranchise: Any plans to adapt the other books in the series were scrapped when the film bombed. It was reported that Creator/DavidLynch was working on a screenplay to adapt ''Literature/DuneMessiah'' and was hired to direct a second and third ''Dune'' film. The franchise would not see the big screen again until Creator/DenisVilleneuve's [[Film/Dune2021 2021]]-[[Film/DunePartTwo 2023]] duology, with strong hopes of seeing ''Literature/DuneMessiah'' adapted.

** Creator/RidleyScott was originally attached to direct. He left the production after his older brother suddenly passed away. Scott wanted to start working as soon as possible, but Dune would take far too long to reach production. Scott decided to leave the project in favor of ''Film/BladeRunner'', which was ready to start production immediately.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/PatrickStewart has a small but notable role, and would come to much greater recognition as Captain Jean Luc Picard in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.

** Churubusco Studios in Mexico City was selected as the shooting location, due to the nearby desert and the devaluation of the peso making it possible to shoot the film for a quarter of what it would've cost in the US. Unfortunately, with that cut-rate cost came cockroach infestations, Mexico's byzantine bureaucracy, brownouts that necessitated having backup generators on hand at all times, a primitive phone network with only one direct line to the production office, worse smog than UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, and Moctezuma's Revenge afflicting half the Europeans on the crew (Creator/VirginiaMadsen in particular became so sick that she had to shoot the fight between Paul and Feyd while sitting on a bar stool hidden under her hooped skirt). In addition, Francesca Annis accidentally blew herself up with a gas oven and was hospitalized for several weeks. Production began in March 1983 and took six months to complete due to all the problems the production faced, coming in $4-7 million over its planned $38 million budget.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/KyleMacLachlan was a fan of the original novel and Paul was his favorite character, so he was eager to play him in the big screen.

** Italian independent mega-producer Dino de Laurentiis was the next to get involved, buying the rights from the Seydoux brothers for $2 million and turning to Herbert himself to write the script. When that didn't work out, he turned to Creator/RidleyScott, fresh off the success of ''Film/{{Alien}}''. That, too, didn't work out -- Scott's vision for the film's aesthetic was similar to that of ''Alien'', which de Laurentiis felt would've made the film feel too derivative, and there was also an argument over Scott and his co-writer Rudolph Wurlitzer writing an incest plot point (namely, '''Paul''' impregnating his mother with Alia) that wasn't in the book, which Herbert himself stepped in over. (Scott denies that the latter part happened, while Creator/HarlanEllison claims it did, writing "Have you ever heard Frank Herbert bellow with rage?") Finally, just when it was looking like the film might actually enter production, Scott's older brother, Frank, died unexpectedly, forcing the emotionally devastated Scott to withdraw from the project entirely. Scott considered returning after recovering, but [[https://www.indiewire.com/2021/12/ridley-scott-refused-direct-dune-mexico-city-1234682693/ left when De Laurentiis insisted he film in Mexico City]], and decided instead to make ''Film/Legend1985''.

* StillbornFranchise: Any plans to adapt the other books in the series were scrapped when the film bombed. It was reported that Creator/DavidLynch was working on a screenplay to adapt ''Literature/DuneMessiah'' and was hired to direct a second and third ''Dune'' film. The franchise would not see the big screen again until Creator/DenisVilleneuve's [[Film/Dune2021 2021]]-[[Film/DunePartTwo 2023]] duology, with strong hopes of seeing ''Dune Messiah'' adapted.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $40 million. Box office, $30,925,690 (domestic). It became an OldShame to Creator/DavidLynch and put producer Raffaella De Laurentis in the B-list of producers before she made a comeback with ''Film/{{Backdraft}}''.