Dune has been filmed several times before. In 1984 David Lynch released a very weird and stylised take on the film, whilst in 2000 and 2003 the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) released two mini-series that adapted both Dune and its two sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Oddly, the franchise has had much greater legs in video games, with several popular titles released based on the books.
The rights were let by the Herbert Estate with Frank Herbert's son Brian involved as a producer. It is unclear if the rights are for just Dune or also its five canonical sequels. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have also released an interminable series of terrible prequel and sequel novels to Frank's work.
