The Dune franchise is coming to its epic conclusion soon, and rumors about the last cinematic installment are running rampant. It has a stacked cast that includes returning vets like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Florence Pugh, and new faces are joining the third film like Robert Pattinson and Anya Taylor Joy, who so far has only had a cameo. Amid the hype, it seems the Dune: Part Three will differ from its predecessors in a key way, and it would mark a record for the franchise.One of the latest tidbits of information that fans have been pouring over is the potential runtime for Part Three. Notably, the AMC website is listing the runtime as reportedly being 2 hours and 20 min. This is slightly shorter than the runtime of Dune, which has a runtime of 2 hours and 35 minutes and Part Two, which has an even longer runtime of 2 hours and 46 minutes. With that, this third installment would hold the record for being the shortest flick in the franchise.This is pretty surprising, because Dune: Part Three has a lot of ground to cover. The end of Part Two sees Paul Atredies defeating Feyd-Rautha in battle, which kickstarts a holy war. He also breaks the heart of Chani and decides to marry Princess Irulan for political power instead. Of course, as teased by the trailers for Part Three, Paul and Chani welcome children of their own, so clearly there is a lot of story in between that needs to be fleshed out. (Image credit: Warner Bros.)The threequel also has the heavy burden of introducing new characters and further developing Anya Taylor Joy’s Alia Atreides and her relevance to the story. And, of course, there still has to be an emphasis on the complex themes of religion and power that circle the Frank Herbert-birthed franchise. Also, fans who have read Dune Messiah -- the follow-up book to the story covered in the first two films-- know it's a bit of a departure tonally and a little strange. Not only that, but it introduces weird concepts to the world, which carry a lot of narrative weight. It remains to be seen how much director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve will take from the book but, if it’s a lot, he has quite a bit of work to do in just 2 hours and 20 minutes. However, this shorter runtime might actually be a great thing. Audiences have been campaigning for shorter runtimes for years now, and this may be an attractive way to get butts in seats at the movie theaters. I'd also argue that sometimes being as concise as possible is good for a film and allows any extraneous story to be removed. That can be integral for pacing and might make the ending feel more satisfying in this case. Of course, come opening night, we'll all just have to wait and see if this is the best choice for the film. You can see Dune: Part Three when it hits cinemas on December 18 as part of the 2026 movie schedule. Fans of the franchise can also revisit the previous Dune films now with an HBO Max subscription.