In an October 24th tweet shared to his 6.5 million Twitter followers, Stephen King gave his thoughts on "Dune," calling the film "very good," but also remarking, "Hard to believe we can do all these amazing special effects and still not achieve world peace."
King's commentary might be a bit unusual, but certainly not unfounded. "Dune" had a large budget of $165 million. While details of the budget are unknown, it can be assumed that a huge chunk of that went to special effects, mostly completed by VFX studio DNEG (via IMDb). The amount of money spent on those effects (and the rest of the film) could also be spent on a number of humanitarian issues, such as hunger alleviation, healthcare inequalities, and education initiatives — all things that can help lead to the elusive goal of "world peace."
King might also be simply referring to the remarkable technology involved in such intricate CGI. If we have the technology to make monsters and mythical aliens look real, why not use the same technology to improve our world? Of course, we can absolutely enjoy special effects and work towards a more peaceful world at the same time, and the related message of trying to do what's right is part of what makes "Dune" such a compelling watch.
