10 Film Sequels Destined To Bomb In 2017

2. Blade Runner 2049

Fifty Shades Darker
Columbia Pictures

Probably the most controversial selection, even more so now that the good folks at Warner Bros. have released a well-received teaser trailer - an exercise in slow build up without really giving anything away. But this is precisely why we should be a bit worried about Blade Runner 2049.

Ridley Scott originally took Philip K Dick's source material, interpreted it in his own way and framed his version against some of the best futuristic visuals in cinematic history, but it seems that director Denis Villeneuve is going his own way. He is indeed taking the look of Scott's Blade Runner - although he's warned that the LA climate has gone a bit berserk - but is set on using these cyber punk landscapes as the backdrop for a whole different tale, where Ryan Gosling is the Andy slayer who just so happens to discover something BIG and needs the help of an old hand. Up steps Harrison Ford as a more grizzled Rick Deckard.

While Villeneuve has shown he can do subtle, menacing drama in the likes of Sicario and Arrival, and it's never a bad thing having Gosling and Ford paired up on screen, the story that's been outlined could be any old sci-fi yarn, just happening to take place under the Blade Runner banner. Original it isn't.

Contributor
Contributor

Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing. He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.