Awesome news for Blade Runner fans: there’s a new Blade Runner movie in the works. At this point it is unsure whether it will be a sequel or a prequel, but here’s what the press-release had to say:
LOS ANGELES, CA, MARCH 3, 2011-Warner Bros-based financing and production company Alcon Entertainment (“The Blind Side,” “The Book of Eli”) co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, in the most significant property acquisition negotiations in the Company’s 13-year history, are in final discussions to secure film, television and ancillary franchise rights to produce prequels and sequels to the iconic 1982 science-fiction thriller “Blade Runner.”
Alcon is negotiating to secure the rights from producer-director Bud Yorkin, who will serve as producer on “Blade Runner” along with Kosove and Johnson. Cynthia Sikes Yorkin will co-produce. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO’s of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers.
Alcon’s franchise rights would be all-inclusive, but exclude rights to remake the original. The Company, however, may produce projects based on situations introduced in the original film. The project would be distributed domestically by Warner Bros. International rights are yet to be determined.
Johnson and Kosove stated: “We are honored and excited to be in business with Bud Yorkin. This is a major acquisition for our company, and a personal favorite film for both of us. We recognize the responsibility we have to do justice to the memory of the original with any prequel or sequel we produce. We have long-term goals for the franchise, and are exploring multi-platform concepts, not just limiting ourselves to one medium only.”
Among its many distinctions, “Blade Runner” has been singled out as one of the greatest movies of all time by countless polls and media outlets, and overwhelmingly as the greatest science-fiction film of all time by a majority of genre publications.
Released by Warner Bros. almost 30 years ago, “Blade Runner” was adapted by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples from Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and directed by Ridley Scott following his landmark “Alien.” The film was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction).
What does all of this mean? i09.com had an exclusive interview with the producers of the new Blade Runner film, Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson and Bud Yorkin. It is a fantastic, informative interview. Here’s a sample:
When we posted the news, reactions were split right down the middle. Some fans felt this could be good, because we have to we have the technology to make this really fascinating. And then there were a lot of people worried that Hollywood was going to ruin the legacy of Blade Runner. Can you address those fans’ concerns?
Kosove: I would really appreciate it if you guys could clarify something: Alcon is not owned by Warner Bros. None of this is being paid by WB. We are a wholly independent financial and production company. Our relationship with Warner, which is very strong, runs back to the earliest years of our company. They’re the distributor on all of our movies. First of all, we’re paying for everything, but second of all — and this a way of answering maybe partially the concerns of your fans — this may work, or it may not work. We may make this movie, but in truth it may never get made.
But what I can tell you for certain today is that we will not go about this process in some form of large group think where 15 execs are going to sit around a table micromanaging the creative talent. Broderick and I will meet with writers and directors and we will figure out what direction we want to go and what story we believe in.
And then we will have them the artistic autonomy to go out and make a great movie and I think what ever success we’ve had at Alcon whether it was helping Chris Nolan’s career withInsomnia, or working with the Hughes bros on Book of Eli or Jonathan Hancock with Blind Side — that philosophy of believing in filmmakers, giving them some parameters and then letting them do their jobs, has served us very very well. And it’s how we’ll approach this process. I don’t know how better to answer the question than that.
Want to see the rest? Click here to view the rest of the interview. Hopefully they don’t butcher the new one; either way, we’ll keep you updated as news comes in!