Horror and Sci-Fi Brief · Tuesday 20 October 2026
The spice is on sale. General tickets for Dune: Part Three open around the world today, eight weeks before Denis Villeneuve’s finale reaches UK cinemas. Today’s brief also has an imaginary friend who turns controlling in the psychological horror Henry’s Ebb, and James Gunn admitting that the DCU’s Batman does not even have a suit yet.
The News That Matters
Update: Dune: Part Three tickets go on general sale around the world today
- New development: General ticket sales open worldwide today, Tuesday 20 October, for all formats and showtimes
- Before today: Two earlier rounds were limited to preview screenings and selected IMAX and premium large-format shows
- Director: Denis Villeneuve, adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah
- UK availability: In UK cinemas from Friday 18 December 2026, with preview screenings on Tuesday 15 December, including IMAX 70mm at London’s BFI IMAX. Exact booking times vary by cinema chain
If you missed out on the early IMAX rush, this is your moment. After two waves of tickets reserved for previews and selected IMAX and premium large-format screenings, Dune: Part Three opens general sales worldwide today, so standard screenings are finally up for grabs. The official Dune account set it up on Monday with a suitably ominous line: “The future has a way of talking to you. Tickets on sale around the world tomorrow.”
Timothée Chalamet returns as Paul Atreides for the conclusion of Villeneuve’s trilogy, which opens in the US on Friday 18 December, the same day as Avengers: Doomsday. That makes for the biggest head-to-head of the Christmas season, and the early rush for premium screens suggests plenty of fans have already picked a side. Last week, editor Joe Walker said the film was “98% done”, as Villeneuve told Empire this would be his final trip to Arrakis.
Imaginary-friend horror Henry’s Ebb heads for a Tallinn world premiere
- New development: Bridge Independent has boarded the film and is handling its sales
- Writer and director: Thomas Mendolia, in his feature debut
- Cast: Kingston Rumi Southwick (Widow’s Bay), Banks Repeta (The Black Phone), Ashley Shelton and Will Holland, with Rebecca Koon and Austin Willard
- Festivals: World premiere at Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (6–22 November 2026), followed by a US premiere at the Cucalorus Film Festival in North Carolina
- UK availability: UK date not yet confirmed
Every lonely childhood needs a friend. The trouble starts when the friend will not let go. Set in the American South in 1998, Henry’s Ebb follows Henry, a boy who runs away from his troubled home to find the father he barely remembers. He is not alone: with him is Ebb, the imaginary friend he created to survive a tumultuous childhood, brave, unpredictable and always there for him.
But the further they travel along the backroads, the more Ebb’s protection becomes control, and Henry finds it harder to tell what is real from what he has imagined to protect himself. It is a chilling premise with a coming-of-age heart, and Tallinn has placed it in the international youth competition of its Just Film strand.
Mendolia shot the film in and around Elkin, North Carolina, where it is set, with Lucas Ford and Joey LePage producing for Ford Films. It was previously picked for the Frontières Buyers Showcase at the Marché du Film in Cannes, so its arrival on the festival circuit has been a while coming.
James Gunn says the DCU’s Batman suit hasn’t been designed yet
- New development: Gunn answered a run of fan questions on Threads on Monday night, 19 October
- Also confirmed: Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle is part of the DCU, but the 2023 Blue Beetle film has not been declared canon
- The film: The Brave and the Bold, first announced in January 2023, still has no Batman cast and no release date
- UK availability: UK date not yet confirmed. The DCU’s Batman film has no release date
If you were hoping for a first look at the DCU’s Dark Knight, do not hold your breath. A fan asked James Gunn on Threads whether Batman’s suit would share the texture of David Corenswet’s Superman costume, as part of a list of what they promised were three questions. “That’s five questions but why not,” Gunn replied. “1) Batman’s suit isn’t designed yet. 2) Who knows? 3) Blue Beetle the character is canon. We have not said the movie is.”
The “Who knows?” was his answer to whether Wally West is currently active in the DCU. The Blue Beetle line matters for Xolo Maridueña fans: Jaime Reyes belongs in Gunn and Peter Safran’s universe, but the 2023 film itself has never been confirmed as part of it.
The suit answer is the telling one. The Brave and the Bold was revealed in Gunn and Safran’s first DCU slate in January 2023, and nearly four years on the DCU still has no Batman. It is a separate project from Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II, and Reeves has made clear he is not leaving that one. Meanwhile, the rest of Gunn’s DCU keeps moving, from Clayface to the animated Mister Miracle.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
December is now officially a battlefield. Dune: Part Three is open for business, so if you want a good seat for the finale, book now rather than later. For horror fans, Henry’s Ebb is one to watch out for on the festival circuit, and the DCU’s Batman remains firmly a work in progress.
Will you be seeing Dune: Part Three in IMAX, or is a standard screen good enough for Arrakis?