"Blade Runner" Japanese Theatrical Poster
The Book of Eli production company wants to make prequels and sequels to the cyberpunk classic from Philip K. Dick, based on the story, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, and made into a movie from Ridley Scott and featuring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer. The movie was about a detective named Deckard living in a futuristic Los Angeles, and chasing after runaway “Replicants”, or humanoids who were used for labor on colonies. While BR wasn’t initially successful, it was highly received and revered to the extent that there were many anime titles inspired by it, while Chris Nolan cited it as one of his favorites at the recent Memento Q&A.
Fans were allegedly irked when Scott dropped the “bomb-shell” that Deckard is a Replicant, so I guess they also have yet to be informed about Luke and Darth Vader’s relationship. Scott’s director’s cut of the film was recently released on DVD and Blu-Ray, and while there were no movie sequels until now, the novel itself had at least three of them, but not from Dick. Considering the cyber-punk genre still has had mixed success at the box office, even for post-Speed/pre-Matrix actor Keanu Reeves, it’ll be interesting to see how Alcon can shake up this property for a wider audience.
Update: Rutger Hauer has said he’d be interested if Chris Nolan were involved. Thanks to @ChrisBeveridge for the link.
Update 2: AICN notes that Scott has signed on to direct and produce another Blade Runner.
Update 3: The next Blade Runner won’t be ready for release until 2014.
Update 4: Twitch indicates that Contagion writer Scott Burns might be involved with the Blade Runner script. Thanks to @timmaughan for the tip.
Update 5: Comicbookmovie.com via the WSJ notes no Deckard in the sequel.
Update 6: CBM via Twitch reports that Ford is in early talks to join the production.
Update 7: Deadline reports that Alcon denied the Ford story.
Update 8: Comicbookmovie.com via EW reports that Scott does want Ford aboard the project, but currently can’t decide whether or not to aim for a prequel or sequel.
