Hollywood eyes Blade Runner replicants

Fans of Blade Runner will certainly raise an eyebrow at the news that production outfit Alcon Entertainment is in "final negotiations" to acquire the prequel and sequel rights to the 1982 sci-fi classic. Poster for original Blade Runner movie According to Reuters, the company is cutting a deal with holder Bud Yorkin, who was …

[Adam T]

Oh dear

I want to run away from this myself.

I'd not entrust anything to someone called "Bud".

[Adam T]

Fairness

To be fair, I had to Google him (Bud). I've still not changed my mind: Sounds like he's tried and failed in the business, and now he's sold out the license so he can get back onto some big-name credits again. What can I say - I'm having a cynical Thursday.

[Anton Ivanov]

You do not stand a chance

Yourself will catch up with you, interrogate, test and terminate if you are found to have replicated.

On a more serious note. Can they leave it alone. Please. Pretty please.

[Anonymous Coward]

Never Fear

Mc G is here

[Ross 7]

Eurgh!

Hmmm, I remain to be convinced. To be fair the original film was awful, but the DC corrected pretty much all that was wrong with it and turned out to be a really good film.

I wish Hollywood would (gah!) give additional weight to artistic merit. Take Pirates for example - decent, fun film. Then they go and make the abominable sequels. Same with The Matrix, and a hat full of other films. It's just lazy film making.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Eurgh!

You can partly thank Bud Yorkin for the 'awful' original (though it wasn't THAT bad).

When the filming went over-budget he and Jerry Perenchio effectively fired Ridley Scott and took over the production. Then, when the initial preview screenings were poorly received by thick American test audiences that couldn't understand the plot, they hired one of the script writers for Columbo to pen a 'Film Noir' style voice over to explain what was happening to 'teh stupids'. Oh, and they also had that lame happy ending added.

Anyway, fuck knows what kind mess these new films will turn out to be...

[Anonymous Coward]

What Matrix Sequels?

All you need to know at http://xkcd.com/566/

[Anonymous Coward]

This will be like a service station sandwich.

No matter how disappointing you expect it to be, it'll still miraculously manage to disappoint.

[Anonymous Coward]

For the love of Geoff!!

I was really hoping Blade Runner was a film that would escape this rehash/reimagining/prequel/sequel horsesh*t that seems to be riff in the film industry at the moment :( Seems I'm to be disappointed!

[hpwb]

Eek

"We have long-term goals for the franchise[...]"

This is exactly why we're scared.

[Horridbloke]

Oh good...

... We can look forward to a crowd-pleasing comedy bit with a CGI'd only-about-forty Harrison Ford deep in the heart of the replicant factory.

(By "oh good" I of course mean "oh ****".)

[MrEee]

Blade Runner Legacy!

As long as he has a young, underprivileged, angry-but-with-a-good-heart black child sidekick - and maybe gets to fight some dinosaurs while stopping the asteroid! - count me in. It's bound to be fantastic! Oh, I almost forgot the big explosions and shaky camera work!

[Sekundra]

Oh dear

Time to die...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nooooooo :-(

It was bad enough that they abominated TRON with that appalling, confused, cringe-inducing, CGI nightmare sequel. Please don't let them do it with Blade Runner. :-(

[MrEee]

Tron?

It was bad enough they did the original Tron... but the sequel upheld the Legacy. At least the sequel had a joke (uh, not intentional?) about Tron being the greatest video game of all time. Hahahahaha. Sorry, I remember when it was out...

[Anonymous Coward]

So do I

'Sorry, I remember when it was out'

You saw TRON at the cinema when it first came out? Yes, so did I. Not sure why you assumed I wouldn't have done. I'm not saying TRON is as good as Blade Runner by any means, but it was unique, compelling and entertaining. The sequel was just a bad joke in comparison, and it would be even more upsetting to see Blade Runner abominated in the same way.

[McToo]

Proof positive

That movie studios have run out of original ideas and just prefer to churn out prequels and sequels to previously made classics (although Blade Runner managed to completely miss the point of 'Do Androids dream of electric sheep') and then scream blue murder about 'piracy' hitting their bottom line. Make a good, original movie and the money will come... oh yes it will.

[Isendel Steel]

Plug

Hopefully The Ultrmarines movie will do well then...

http://www.ultramarinesthemovie.com/

[The Original Ash]

Jesus...

Not only is John Hurt the only actor of the bunch I'd trust further than a quadriplegic could throw them, but the Director has the London Olympics promotion video listed as an example of work. I did like Dan Abnett's books, though.

Still, why the Ultraqueens?! Screenplay of Space Wolf, obviously!

[CD001]

Lol

I've not touched Games Workshop (oki, with the exception of the DoW and Blood Bowl PC games) for probably almost 20 years - but it made me smile to see that I'm not the only one who thought Space Wolves were the real badass Space Marines! :D

[LesC]

Razzie, anyone?

This Bladerunner prequel / sequel / reboot has just got to end in tears, Perhaps Bud Yorkin should stick with working for Bernard Matthews as he seems to be good doing turkeys...

[Haku]

Dear Hollywood execs,

Fuck off.

Yours sincerely, every sci-fi movie fan that has existed including those yet to be born.

[Steve Gill]

Ye gawds

Is nothing sacred in Hollytown any more?

When are the inevitable 'reimaginings' (aka useless remakes) of Gone With The Wind & Casablanca due out?

[Miek]

New Movies please ..

Enough of the remakes and sequels already.

[Greg J Preece]

No

No no no no no no no no no no no no.

No.

Not ever.

[breakfast]

I'll tell you about my relationship with the franchise...

It's a shame the sequels won't live. But then, who does?

[Mystic Megabyte]

2001

Not forgetting the abomination that was 2010.

I suppose they could do 10,000000BC as a prequel and 2020 for good measure.....nooooo!

[MJI]

2010 was written by ACC

And was a continuation of the story.

Film was not as good as the book.

[MrT]

Shhhh...

... don't mention "2061" then... ;-) - chasing Halley's comet, life on Europa, and Heywood Floyd joining HAL and Dave Bowman in the monlith.

And especially don't mention "3001", when Frank Poole is found and resurrected, and Lucifer stops shining so the solar system goes back to one sun again. Plus several major contradictions to the other three books, but ACC always maintained that he wasn't writing for continuity in the these last two.

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolute kipple

but then again, the entire universe is moving toward a state of total, absolute kippleization

[Stevie]

Bah!

Modern state of the art CGI wedded to emergent 3D technology, wrapped up in a name evoking iconic cinematics and almost infinite arthouse cred = instant blockbuster!

I can see no downside to this plan.

Oscars all round.

[Ian Davies]

He used the word "franchise"

That's all you need to know, really.

[Amir Shah]

This has disaster written all over it

Bladerunner is one of my all time favorite films and I can't see how you would improve it. It was a product of it's time with stunning visuals and a great sound track. The new version will be all slo mo jumping around and blowing stuff up. Who would play Decard Ashton Kutcher???

[Darryl]

You forgot

All of that slow-mo jumping around and blowing stuff up will be in glorious 3D

Maybe they'll even have sulky teenage vampires and transforming robots!

[MrEee]

OMG

I forgot the 3D!!! It's going to be so good! I hope they get Shia LaBeouf for the lead! And did someone say talking animals?

[Ed Deckard]

FANMADE

THERE IS NO BLADE RUNNER SEQUEL/PREQUEL

[Helena Handcart]

This is just batty

I've seen scripts you people wouldn't believe. Cinemas on fire off the local high street. I watched projector beams glitter in the dark with no one to watch them. All those films will be lost in time, like money down the drain. Time to cry.

[Michael Hoffmann]

More thumbs up!

Could we have an "thumbs up to infinity" vote button just for Helena Handcart's post, please?

[Keith 21]

Oh! Hollywood! FUCK OFF!!!

Look, Hollywood, we all know you are a bunch of talentless, clueless voids with less combined talent that a dead ant's little toenail posesses, but come on. Even with your greedy reliance upon mindnumbing-sequel after mindnumbing remake, there is still NO reason for you to fuck up Yet Another good film.

Just leave the hell alone.

Better still, just all fuck off and let some genuinely talented people with ORIGINAL ideas have a shot at making films again.

Please?

[JP19]

Blade runner sequels

This is at least 10 different kinds of wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

*ahem*

"Not forgetting the abomination that was 2010.

I suppose they could do 10,000000BC as a prequel and 2020 for good measure.....nooooo!"

Not the best film I agree, but 2010 was based on the Clarke book. Part of the series that includes 2061 and 3001.

Also, NO!

[John Deeb]

simulacrum

Surely it's the pinnacle of horrible ideas. Then again, in this age of "replication and hollowing" Philip K. Dick's idea of simulated realities becoming actually simulacrum inside the cinema is *at least* poetic justice of some kind. Maybe, just maybe, this one franchised classic might implode the overheated industry and make us all retire from over-engineered hyper-fabricated entertainment once and for all. After which we're free to upload our minds to BeTube, waiting for Clicks to Happen.

[Spoonsinger]

Moon

So some Hollywood types have listened Duncan Jones commentary about his inspiration for Moon, (and possible subsequent sequels), and decided to queer the deal. Who'd of thought.

[Anonymous Coward]

Voight Kampff - There's an App For That

Ye gods this is scary. I shudder to think how they are going to make it "trendy" for modern audiences.

But on the plus side, someone is making a film that Apple can't fill with product placement and that actively mentions one of its competitors ;)

[chr0m4t1c]

Ouch

From the Director who brought you "Arthur 2: On the Rocks", the producer who brought you "Love Hurts" and the writer of the critically acclaimed 1962 "Andy Williams Special":

Bladerunner 2: Time to Live

and

Bladerunner 0: Does anyone have a charger for a Nokia Sheep?

I can hardly wait. Do you think they'll be in 3D too? I might explode with excitement.

Maybe I shouldn't have watched every episode of Max Headroom back to back...

[Mike Bell]

I could do it

I could make a great prequel and sequel with a couple of hundred million dollars.

Reason: The Blade Runner universe offers vast possibilities and doesn't need to be restricted to the plot of an ex-cop running around after some robots.

Off-world colonies; attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; the demise of virtually all animal life on Earth; the ascendancy of AI; the politics of a crumbling planetary society.

There's plenty of scope to make some great films there.

Of course it will never go that way because virtually everything's dumbed down and risk-averse these days. Which is a great pity. If things had always been that way, Blade Runner would never have been made at all.

[Haku]

Soldier

On that note, the film "Soldier" fits into the Blade Runner world, Kurt Russel's character was in the Tannhauser Gate battle.

[Pinkerton]

It could be worse...

...George Lucas could be involved!

[A Known Coward]

Do NOT joke about that!

Without exaggeration, the mere thought of George Lucas being involved suddenly made me very nauseous.

If they do make another film, and I hope that never happens, I will refuse to watch it no matter who was in the producer/director/writer chairs. My memories of the original star wars films was forever tarnished by seeing the 'prequels' but those original films never came close to true sci-fi classics like Blade Runner in my opinion. Whatever the disappointment I felt about Lucas' butchery, it would be so much worse to have Blade Runner ruined for me.

[Cunningly Linguistic]

Some people forget...

...that Hollywood (and the studio system) isn't there to make good films, it's there to make ridiculous profits (then announce that they made losses).

[tom 24]

Ah, so that's the answer

The other day, as I was reminiscing about how Hollywood has taken every wonderful childhood memory and milked it until it is a lifeless husk, I wondered whether there were even any good memories left to destroy.... guess so

[Graham Marsden]

"Describe in single words...

".. only the good things that come into your mind about... a Blade Runner sequel."

"A Blade Runner sequel?"

"Yeah."

"Let me tell you about a Blade Runner sequel...."

[BLAM!]

[Anonymous Coward]

LA LA LA LA, I can't hear you.

I'm going to act like a creationist and pretend it doesn't exist.

[VeganVegan]

Attiude adjustment

They can make prequels and sequels all they want. Shirley, we just need to approach them as elaborate spoofs, the more seriously they make them, the more hilarious they become.

With this mindset, many of the sequels mentioned in the comments yield decent entertainment. A good time can be had for all.

[Knochen Brittle]

Try this for size

"At last the circle is complete! This is the final video review of the third and last Star Wars Prequel "Revenge of the Sith". In this 3 part review/critique/documentary/satire/educational film/parody analysis Mr. Plinkett explores the film and how it wasn't as fantastic as you might have thought. He also looks at the Star Wars saga in general... ; so sit back and enjoy."

http://blip.tv/file/4575481

[Blubster]

Typical Hollywood

Take a good film and piss on it.

Remember the scene for scene remake of Psycho (what was the point?), or the effin' awful remake of the Wicker Man? Jeeeze!... As pointed out by other posters, for fuck's sake leave well alone and do something original.

[DavCrav]

No-one's mentioned the books

Blade Runner 2,3 and 4 are books by K W Jeter, and actually quite good. Really explain lots of things, come up with original ideas to tie in to things seen in the film, and, if followed, probably wouldn't make bad films.

But of course, the sequel will be shit, because it's Hollywood.

[Graham Marsden]

@No-one's mentioned the books

Well I haven't for a good reason: I was trying to repress the memory of Blade Runner 2 which tried (and completely failed) to square the circle between Do Androids... and the film Blade Runner and was a hopeless mish-mash that failed to comprehend that the two were entirely different entities.

[Jedit]

Blade Runner 2: Replicant Shite

BR2 ties into the film in the same way that the porn remake of Pirates of the Carribean ties into Cutthroat Island. For starters, Jeter made JR Isidore and J.F. Sebastian separate characters appearing in the book, despite Sebastian being a) a renamed Isidore and b) dead. It's one of the worst sequels ever written; even the author has apologised for his shameful lack of research.

[DavCrav]

Well I liked it

Well, fine. It's a good thing different people like different things.

[dssf]

Natural City

I will continue replaying South Korea's "Natural City"... Nice weapons, kewl gunship, and good story between friends in a damaged friendship. But, then, Koreans have a way with telling stories that rip tears from viewers. I don't recall Blade Runner ever making me cry.

[DavCrav]

Making you cry

"I don't recall Blade Runner ever making me cry."

Probably because your tears were lost in rain.

[MJI]

Only one director allowed

Unless Ridley is on board it cannot be made

[Rinsey]

re:Only one director allowed

Because his films have been of such high quality lately. Robin hood for example, with his Northern Irish east midlanders, D-day style landing craft and a ride from Derbyshire to Kent in an afternoon.

Sign him up...

[MJI]

However since he wouldn't want to

My idea kills the film.

Haven't seen any of his since Kingdom of Heaven.

Still think his best are Alien and recent Blade Runner directors cut.

[Jedit]

Still not the worst Robin Hood

You appear to have forgotten that in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman ride from Dover to Nottingham in a day ... via Hadrian's Wall.

[beep54]

Possiblities here, actually

There ARE sequels to the book. They were written by K.W. Jeter. If you haven't heard of him, for shame! Philip K. Dick was his mentor. Dick helped him get his first novel, 'Dr. Adder,' published. The book was so far ahead of the S/F curve that it took over ten years to get published (the novel was finished in 1972 but not published until 1984). Dick thought that had the novel been published when written, it would have been considered the first cyberpunk novel. So the guy has the chops. If the new movies use Jeter as a basis, there's actually a certain amount of hope for them.

[IsJustabloke]

I refuse to enoble a simple forum post!

Dr Adder was an appallingly bad book.... it was like he'd gathered up all the bits cut from other more successful books an dthen bound them into a single volume using the original page numbers.

Jeter wouldn't know an original idea if it jumped in front of him waving a flag. The fact that Philip K Dick was his mentor doesn't suprise me because apart from a couple of gems Dicks books are also unreadable. I offer exhibit A "The Zap Gun" but you could pretty much pick any of Dicks books.

NB not to be confused with Dicks short stories!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dumbing down for the "now" generation

Bladetoddler; In the beginning

Featuring scenes from Deckard's traumatic and formative early life, including the death of his electric goldfish, Bubbles, in acccident involving an NiMh pack an incorrect charger and a frying pan. Plus the incident where an early Nexus One, employed as his Nanny went rogue after the young Deckard repeatedly issued contradictory instructions on how he wanted his boiled egg cooked; she tied him to the sofa and made him watch back to back remakes of popular seventies classic films for 14 straight days.

Funrunner: After Rachel

After Rachels unfortunate demise only two hours after the end of The Original, Deckard is left in something of a quandry having rather burned his bridges back in LA. After a string of unsatisfying manual jobs, he enrols in a New York business school, where he once again bumps into Gaff, now head of security at the local Kmart. Pooling their expertise, they open a store together in Greenwich Village selling 'built to order' origami animals to the BDSM community, while whiling away the evenings whoring, drinking and arguing over whether replicant sex was better than human sex.

Some things were meant to be left as they were for all time; perfect.

[Tony Paulazzo]

Title

>As long as he has a young, underprivileged, angry-but-with-a-good-heart black child sidekick<

Oh great! Will Smiths annoying kid, you know they'll do it.

>Not forgetting the abomination that was 2010.<

Hang on, you do realise Arthur C Clarke wrote it, and the director phoned thru' all script variations to the author - it was a good little movie (influenced a Stargate SG1 ep). Try reading ACCs 3001, that was trying (and I loved that man like my father). 2061 was ok, we finally found out what had lain in the heart of Jupiter all that time, ejected when it turned into (spoilers) a sun.

>Either that or Battlestar Galactica 2003 was...<

Thank you...BSG 2003 = spiritual successor to 'Do androids dream...'

As for Hollywhore rebooting/remaking these films I'm not really fussed, I've got the originals, nothing can take away from them, and shit, you never know, they might make something great (I'm an optimist), I enjoyed Avatar... in 3D no less, didn't bother paying to see Clash of the Titans or Tron or Gullivers Travels, nor bothered watching 'em. I did get suckered into paying for 3D Alice in Wonderland but sometimes you have to take one for the kids, and it wasn't excruciatingly bad.

The future of film making looks bright too, with independents creating original stuff on shoestring budgets with stories needing to hold the project aloft.

[Dr Patrick J R Harkin]

You're walking in the desert. You see a film producer

The film producer lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun beating its legs trying to turn itself over but it can't, not without your help, but you're not helping. What do you do?

[Kd]

Kill it dead, with its own arm...

Then the rain will come, to hide my non-existent tears

[Nameless Faceless Computer User]

Maybe

It has successfully been done with the Alien saga. Maybe we'll get lucky.

[MJI]

Like falling off a cliff

Alien was brilliant

Aliens was very very good.

Alien 3 was OK

The 4th film I have managed to forget most of it

[Jedit]

You're half right.

It has been done. But not successfully.

[johnnytruant]

on the plus side

If we can find some way to extract electricity from the rotation of Philip K Dick in his grave, that'd be the energy crisis sorted out.

PKD fans might be interested to know that the Radio Free Albemuth movie has a trailer out now.

[Anonymous Coward]

Brilliant

I have just registered for the sole reason to proclaim Helena Handbasket's post the greatest of all time!!

[A.Fenderson]

Me as well.

I actually registered yesterday so I could "thumbs-up" it, but you've inspired me to go the extra half-meter and post my appreciation verbally. Well done, HH! :-)

[Helena Handcart]

Awww...

*blush*

[Chris Hunt]

Alcon, eh?

They're pretty good at making tin foil, but I think they should leave cult classic cinema alone.