Variety reports that Herbert's 1965 novel is a sweeping, futuristic tale set on the remote desert planet Arrakis, which produces the interstellar empire's sole source of the spice Melange -- used for distant space travel. An empirewide power struggle ensues over the control of the spice. The novel has already been adapted into a movie, the 1984 outing directed by David Lynch, and also a 2000 Sci-Fi channel TV series that starred William Hurt.
The new movie is set up at Paramount Pictures, and is currently 'out to writers', according to the trade.