Late last night, Warner Bros based Alcon Entertainment (Insomnia, The Book Of Eli) announced that they were close to striking a deal that would allow them to produce sequels & prequels to
Ridley Scott's seminal 80's science fiction movie
Blade Runner. Yup... because everything is a franchise these days, now Blade Runner must be one too. Alcon have secured the rights from
Bud Yorkin, the executive producer of the 1982 original and who has sold his soul to help produce a number of new movies in the Blade Runner universe. If there's any shining light to the deal, Alcon don't own the rights to actually remake Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, they only own the rights to further expand it's mythology. So apart from remaking the thing, they can do whatever the hell they want. I guess the next step will be for Alcon to send the word out to writers/directors who might have an idea of how to move Blade Runner forward and once they find a concept they like, they'll quickly get the ball rolling. I sincerely hope Ridley Scott got a phone call with first refusal (he's returning to his Alien franchise next so why not?) and if nothing else, just so he could be informed that a deal was imminent before he reads it online. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPcZHjKJBnE I'm completely exhausted by the Hollywood remake machine that it's now genuinely difficult for me to drum up a feeling of disgust at the idea of more Blade Runner. We're all grown-ups, we all live in the second decade of the 21st century, we all know how the film industry works by now. Blade Runner, like everything else, was always suspect-able to something like this. We should instead look to the positives and one is that sometime this decade, a director is going to get the chance at a big budget sci-fi movie. That's something to celebrate, if nothing else. You read the whole press release,
HERE. A little, potentially enticing side note. Do you know who is the world's biggest Blade Runner fan? Warner Bros' own
Christopher Nolan. Now, I'm just saying, IF Warner Bros and Alcon Entertainment sent Nolan a letter this week expressing that he has the freedom to do anything he wants with the Blade Runner universe and include any characters he wants... tell the story the way he wants... I just wonder if the kid in him, who probably played fantasy Blade Runner fan-fiction in the 80's... would be tempted by the idea. If WB allowed Nolan the same freedom 20th Century Fox are allowing Ridley Scott with Prometheus, I just wonder if he will tempted. I'm playing Devil's Advocate I know, but don't under-estimate the power of childhood favourites (i.e. Peter Jackson - King Kong ---- Javier Bardem in James Bond, etc).