This is nice. You can see the full release details of Fox's upcoming release of "Dredd" on 4K HDR Blu-Ray HERE. Know what else would be nice? A "Dredd" sequel. Pretty please? I remember going into "Dredd" with very low expectations. After all, this was a reboot of "Judge Dredd," a terrible 90s action movie starring -yikes- Sylvester Stallone. What we got instead with 2012's "Dredd" was a genuinely visionary film.
Director Pete Travis made something quite beautiful out of the savagery he depicted onscreen. Paul Leonard's exalting techno soundtrack also gave the film an avant-garde edginess that fit perfectly with the film's atmosphere. The 3D was also second to none. Travis, using color and the best use of slo-mo I could recall in ages, made a film that was wholly auteur-ed and singular in its vision. Lest us not forget that the screenplay was written by Alex Garland, a man who burst to the directorial scene last year with his brilliant "Ex-Machina." His lean, mean scenario had none of the superfluous tropes that would hamper down most of the action movies we see today. I can't fail to mention Karl Urban ("Star Trek Beyond) who played a great, nasty hero as the titular character himself.
Despite critics missing the boat by giving it mixed reviews and it completely fizzling at the Box-office, "Dredd" has become a cult classic over time with a solid, loyal fan-base that has basically become a monster in itself. You can thank home video for that and streaming services as well. I can understand the fascination with the film. It is such a re-watchable film. Hell, I remember being sent a copy of the DVD by the studio and seeing it around 5 or 6 times in a span of a few months, which is a LOT for me, I rarely re-visit a film that soon. Why and how has this cult fanbase happened? Because "Dredd" is not just an artful piece of work, but it's also just a damn entertaining film.
Urban has mentioned countless times that he is very interested in making a sequel. This all leads me to the rather disappointing news that Fox seems to have turned down the script for a potential second chapter. Its co-creator John Wagner spoke to ScreenGeek last year about recently pitching Garland's screenplay, "Judge Death," to FOX:
“That was actually the first script that Alex Garland did was a Judge Death script but Fox, who they were dealing with at the time, turned it down. They wanted more nuts and bolts before they went into the [metaphysical].”
For the time being there are fan petitions for a sequel a little bit everywhere on the web, most notably "Bring Back Dredd," which has gathered 152,000 signatures thus far. You can sign up right HERE .
This is all Rothman’s idea, by the way. He’s going to pour millions into this campaign because he believes “Brand New Day” is a great movie.