(image via Yahoo!)

"Blade Runner 2049" wasn't the box office draw some hoped for but take nothing away from director Denis Villeneuve.

Villeneuve treated existing fans and most critics to a faithful and worthy sequel to the classic, but it wasn't enough for the masses.

"Honestly, I don't know because we had the best critiques [reviews] in the world," Villeneuve told Yahoo! Tuesday. "I'm still digesting it. I had the best critiques of my life. I never had a movie welcomed like that. At the same time, the box office in the United States was a disappointment. That's the truth because those movies are expensive. It will still make tons of money but not enough.

"I think it's maybe that people were not familiar enough with the universe and the fact that the movie is long. I don't know. It's still a mystery to me. I make movies. I don't sell them."

Undaunted, Villeneuve is preparing to take on Frank Herbert's "Dune," one of the best-selling sci-fi novels of all time. David Lynch gave it his best shot in 1984, but creative differences and the near-unfilmable subject matter made it a critical and commercial dud.

“David Lynch did an adaptation in the ’80s that has some very strong qualities," Villeneuve says. "I mean, David Lynch is one of the best filmmakers alive, I have massive respect for him. But when I saw his adaptation, I was impressed, but it was not what I had dreamed of, so I’m trying to make the adaptation of my dreams.



“It will not have any link with the David Lynch movie. I’m going back to the book, and going to the images that came out when I read it.”