News is out this week that the sci-fi classic Dune is to be remade by The Kingdom director Peter Berg. This confirms the rumour Ain't It Cool News floated last October. A self-confessed obsessive fan of Frank Herbert 1965 book, Berg has promised Time Out the film will be "big, big, big".

The cinematic version of Dune has a long and chequered history, with the rights bouncing around from producer to producer, each with multiple failed attempts at getting the popular book onto the big screen.

In 1974 Alejandro Jodorowsky came famously close to getting his version off the ground, working with producer Jean-Paul Gibon. It would have been a suitably bizarre affair, with luminaries like comic legend Jean 'Moebius' Giraud, famed artist HR Giger, and Pink Floyd all on board. The project was pulled after it became clear Jodorowsky's ideas weren't going to produce a commercially profitable film.

This fascinating story is explored in great length in the Louis Mouhet documentary La Constellation Jodorowsky, available as part of The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky collection.

Much has been written over the years on Jodorowsky's aborted attempt, though the most intriguing story comes from the director himself. In the edition 107 of Métal Hurlant Jodorowsky wrote in detail about his concept and the process of putting his adaption together.

It was production legend Dino De Lautentis and director David Lynch who ultimately got the film up and on the big screen in 1984, to an almost universal panning from critics and audiences.