So why, oh why, in this day and age, with all of the possibilities at his disposal, would an intelligent director like Villeneuve try to squeeze the entire cow of “Dune” into two, tiny tuna cans? Is it just habit? A lack of imagination?

No matter what comes of Villeneuve’s efforts, good or bad, his “Dune” will never be the definitive visual presentation of “Dune” because too much of the story will have been needlessly excised in order to fit an antiquated presentation model of rapidly declining appeal.

Personally, I didnt like the new bladerunner, it was too much explosion, it lacked the intrigue and dialogue of the first movie… too much hollywood explosive direction… I really was disappoint with the movie. It had some great moments but… damn, it ruined everything by too action movie when it didnt need. I wanted more philosophy, more discussion, more mystery, investigation, more relationship, something really smart.

The studio believes in him enough to allow for a passion project, non-mainstream art film. They shall recoup over the duration of a long working partnership .

I think you misunderstand what’s going on here. It’s not like Villeneuve is shopping the project around. He was approached to make Dune happen, simply because the studio is fully aware he’s one of the few who can pull it off.
He’s probably the best Western director working today (his portfolio being still flawless) and while that doesn’t mean he’s the best fit for every single project out there – quite on the contrary – his style is just perfect for Dune, being the complex and atmospheric sci-fi that it is.

I really liked the SCiFi version. I own it on DVD. And the sequel.

2049 wasn’t a box office failure because it was a bad movie. It didn’t perform as well as it should have because, for one, its runtime didn’t allow maximal theater showings. It was also ahead of its time in terms of this recent wave of science fiction revivals (yes, even by mere months), so people outside of the Blade Runner cult fan base weren’t really ready for it. Plus, October, when it was released, is a poor month for movies to begin with. It’s that limbo between the summer season and the holiday season. I feel as if the film wen over the studio execs’ heads, and they had no idea what to do with it, so they dumped it in that limbo slot. Had it been released around Thanksgiving, I bet it would’ve performed much better.

Anyway, Villeneuve will continue to get funding because he and his team make decent-to-great films with a lot of potential.

2049’s blanket critical acclaim and two Oscar wins probably help a lot. Also, DUNE has been adapted successfully (just not mega-successfully) twice before and is the biggest-selling SF novel of all time.