Dredd Writer: Sequel Not Happening

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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Dredd Writer: Sequel Not Happening


Dredd screenplay writer Alex Garland doesn't think there's much chance of a sequel ever seeing the light of day.

If you're a fan of action movies and you missed 2012's <a href=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343727/?ref_=tt_rec_tti>Dredd, your first course of action should be to go and watch it. Leagues better than the goofy <a href=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113492/?ref_=tt_rec_tti>1995 Sylvester Stallone adaption, it took the bloody world of its comic book source material and used it to create one of the most finely crafted action flicks in recent memory. Sadly, Dredd was also a box office flop, all but killing its chances for a sequel. Despite this, its <a href=https://www.facebook.com/MakeADreddSequel>fans campaigned for the franchise to continue, efforts that screenplay writer Alex Garland has recently branded as futile.

Speaking about the possibility <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124096-Dredd-Sequel-May-Still-Happen>of a Dredd 2, Garland agreed with journalists when asked if the franchise was finished. "As far as I'm concerned? Yeah it is," he said. "It makes me feel sad really. I feel grateful to the people who've attempted to get a sequel off the ground. And sorry that actually what happened was we let them down. Because the reality is that a film needs to acquit itself. It shouldn't need a petition. And the truth is if it gets to the point where it needs a petition, it's in big trouble anyway. That's the cold hard reality of it."

While Garland's sentiments are disappointing, they're almost made worse when paired with details he revealed about where the franchise would have gone in its sequels. "In the second film it was going to go out into the desert, which would be <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cursed_Earth_%28Judge_Dredd_story%29>The Cursed Earth - people who know the comic book would know immediately what that means," he said. The third film "would have been going back to the city and maybe bringing in some Dark Judges or something like that." Garland also expressed confidence that a sequel, like the original film, could have been filmed on a relatively small budget. "We could have made it for [$30 million] if we shot it in 2D," he said. "[$35 million] maybe [in] 3D I guess."

Even with the cost of filming that low however, we're not really surprised that movie studios would be reluctant to invest in a follow-up. Even setting aside Dredd's <a href=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343727/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus>fiscal failure, R-rated action films just aren't the theatrical mainstay that they used to be even a few decades ago. Fans of the genre might crave more movies like Dredd, but it honestly makes more sense for studios to invest in something less hardcore that can rake in that sweet sweet PG-13 cash.

Source: <a href=http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01/12/dredd-2-unlikely-says-screenwriter-alex-garland>IGN





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RaikuFA

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My local theatre didn't even show it. Then again, they don't put anything in unless it's a big budget title or a bollywood movie.
 

Jak2364

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Never saw it, and now I'm kind of sad I didn't. Seems interesting. Hopefully Netflix or another streaming company will swoop in and save this series?
 

The_Darkness

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That's a real pity. I discovered Dredd about a year ago - talk about a movie that knew its strengths.

Ah well. At least the movie itself exists, and works very well as a stand-alone plotline.
 

Cowabungaa

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So what we could have had is a movie that's basically Judge Dredd meets Mad Max, with a cloned T-Rex and a crazy ex-president as the main antagonists?



Boy that sucks ass, I would've adored to see that movie. The first Dredd was fantastic, shame it flopped financially.
 

tzimize

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Jak2364 said:
Never saw it, and now I'm kind of sad I didn't. Seems interesting. Hopefully Netflix or another streaming company will swoop in and save this series?
It was brilliant. I never knew it existed, it didnt come to our cinemas, but I read about it online and got a hold of it. Its great, completely awesome.
 

Sixcess

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Sad news. Dredd was a superb film, and given how effective the psi sequences were (something I really didn't expect the movie to tackle) I'd have loved to have seen the Dark Judges realised with such style.

On the plus side it's a film that can stand alone as an underapreciated triumph, undiluted by the risk of potentially inferior sequels.
 

TheRightToArmBears

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Ahhh, fuck. Fucking fuck. That film is awesome, a sequel would have been sweet. At least there's one film that does the character justice and we don't have to live with just the 1995 version. Could be worse I guess, we could be getting a PG-13 sequel. Ew.
 

Frezzato

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Jak2364 said:
Never saw it, and now I'm kind of sad I didn't. Seems interesting. Hopefully Netflix or another streaming company will swoop in and save this series?
I caught it on Netflix instant. Then I found myself watching it four, five, six times and more. So I did the sensible thing and just bought the Blu-ray for $9. It contains no extras, and I never buy anything on disc that doesn't contain extras like commentary and such, but it was so worth it.
 

Fat Hippo

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For some unfathomable reason, this movie didn't even get a lot of attention on the internet. Hell, even Moviebob didn't mention it, as far as I can recall, and it seems like it would be right up his alley. I only saw it a few months ago, and it may be my favorite action movie of the last 5 years.

It almost felt like something out of the 80's, but not in a "look how retro we are" kind of way, but rather in its unflinching but not overdone violence, its serious tone, and the well choreographed, non shaky-cam action scenes. Just all-round fantastic, really.
 

Daaaah Whoosh

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Dredd was good, I think I saw it on Netflix a few months back. I didn't know it was ever in theatres, I'd never seen it advertised. Would've been great on a big screen, though.
 

Vkmies

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We could've had a film in the Cursed Earth?

GOD DAMNIT THAT WOULDVE BEEN AMAZING
 

croc3629

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There truly is no justice in this world.

Was the advertising for Dredd really that poor? Were people just not interested?

Why?
 

Manthraxx

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I would suggest they go the crowd funding way, like Iron Sky. It will mean a very large target, compared to Iron Sky, but I'm sure it could be done... I mean it "just" requires 300.000 fans giving $100 each.
 

WindKnight

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Fat_Hippo said:
For some unfathomable reason, this movie didn't even get a lot of attention on the internet. Hell, even Moviebob didn't mention it, as far as I can recall, and it seems like it would be right up his alley. I only saw it a few months ago, and it may be my favorite action movie of the last 5 years.

It almost felt like something out of the 80's, but not in a "look how retro we are" kind of way, but rather in its unflinching but not overdone violence, its serious tone, and the well choreographed, non shaky-cam action scenes. Just all-round fantastic, really.
as far as I can tell, he was aware of it, but it was never screened somewhere he could see it. most he said was 'things I'm hearing about it are good'.

Caught it on DVD here, good film. Only complaint is the the humour of the comics didn't come across as well, apart from a handful of pitch-black moments, but as it was setting the character and setting, totally ok withthe humour being dialled back initially
 

Trishbot

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Crying shame. Dredd was everything the original wasn't and, in an era so obsessed with remaking films and breaking what wasn't broken, it was the rare reboot that FIXED the mistakes of the past attempt.

But, sadly, the marketing was bad, even if word of mouth was great. By the time people realized the film was amazing, it was too little too late.

A sequel would make more money, guaranteed.
 

bartholen_v1legacy

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Aw, poo. I haven't seen the film since it was in cinemas, but I remember liking it, and would definitely have supported the sequel. If not so much for the movie itself, then at least for its unapologeticness. I mean when was the last time you saw a shot of a character falling 30 stories ONTO THE CAMERA, and then the whole screen just filling with blood? It was exactly the kind of hardcore action along with the Raid movies or the original Taken that can serve as an antidote to PG-13 fare like the Taken sequels or Marvel films. Oh well, I guess we'll have a new reboot in 2027 then :/
 

Makabriel

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croc3629 said:
There truly is no justice in this world.

Was the advertising for Dredd really that poor? Were people just not interested?

Why?
As mentioned in the article: The "R" rating. It has such a bad stigma, that people shy away from it. As you can tell from the comments though, it was a really good movie.
 

Sanunes

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Fat_Hippo said:
For some unfathomable reason, this movie didn't even get a lot of attention on the internet. Hell, even Moviebob didn't mention it, as far as I can recall, and it seems like it would be right up his alley. I only saw it a few months ago, and it may be my favorite action movie of the last 5 years.

It almost felt like something out of the 80's, but not in a "look how retro we are" kind of way, but rather in its unflinching but not overdone violence, its serious tone, and the well choreographed, non shaky-cam action scenes. Just all-round fantastic, really.
If you watch the video for that week (Resident Evil Retribution) he couldn't make the only critic review because he was on an airplane coming back from The Escapist Expo and the people he trusts said it was "pretty good". Which is unusual for he rarely talks about a movie he doesn't review.

I think the problem is the studio had zero faith in the movie, for they didn't really do much promotion for the movie aside from taking it to film festivals (at least from what I remember) which could be because it was rated R, but who knows.