Paramount’s option to make a movie based on Frank Herbert’s Dune has expired, and the studio’s four year efforts with the property (see, for example, “Dune Gets Director”) have come to an end, according to Deadline. Efforts to reach a new agreement between the rights holder and Paramount were unsuccessful. 

There’s a script by Chase Palmer that may survive in some new incarnation, according to the report, and Paramount’s last director for the project, Pierre Morel (Taken), could also end up working on the film for another studio if the project goes into turnaround.