Ridley Scott seems to be enjoying revisiting past glories at the moment, as he’s currently shooting his sort-of Alien prequel, Prometheus, and now it’s been announced that he’s signed on to produce and direct another Blade Runner movie. Warner Bros and Alcon Production announced several months ago that they wanted to make more Blade Runner film, but at the time it wasn’t though Scott would want to come back (although it was said he’d be approached). However he’s now agreed to come onboard.
According to Deadline, there’s no word on which way the story will go – whether it will be a prequel, sequel or just set in the same universe. However Andrew Kosgrove from Alcon has been talking to the LA Times, and says we should expect the movie before 2014. He also says that “they hashed out how a new film would look, how it could avoid seeming too similar to the many movies that have since paid homage to the original, and how different the new film should be from the original itself. The new film will apparently stand as separately as possible from the original.
As for the involvement of Harrison Ford, Kosgrove says, “In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott. But if youre asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.”
Howver, while they’ve worked out the shape of the movie, no screenwriter has been attached, so the next job will be to hire one and wait for them to finish the script.
Blade Runner was released theatrically in 1982 and, although it wasn’t a blockbuster, grossing just $32 million, the movie gained a massive following in the years that followed. The movie centered on Harrison Ford’s Richard Deckard, a blade runner who is tasked with finding and eliminating “replicants,” robots who easily pass as humans. He ends up falling for one of the replicants and struggles with the decision of whether or not to destroy her. The movie was adapted from the Philip K. Dick short story ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’
It’s likely fans will be happier that it’s Scott returning to the world of Blade Runner rather than anyone else, and it’s likely anticipation for this will rest on how well Prometheus is received.