The Dredd sequel seems to be the movie that everyone wants to see, yet no one wants to make. The first film struggled at the box office when it was released back in 2012,* bringing in $13 million theatrically on a $50 million budget. Then came home video, where word of mouth about the brutal murder movie from director Pete Travis started to spread, making Dredd one of the biggest hits on DVD and Blu-ray that same year.
So it makes sense that every few months or so a rumor will kick off about a possible sequel. While the producers from the first film have largely kept quiet about sequel prospects, one man is keeping hope alive: star Karl Urban, who’s out there saying he has some idea where the next film – a prequel, he suggests – might just go.
Genre site Shallow Graves reports speaking with Urban during Chicago Comic-Con, where they asked him what the status was on Dredd 2. His answer was surprisingly direct (and surprising in the direction it went):
“Why yes, there is a definite possibility,” he told Shallow Graves. “But, it is more likely that we will do the origins story with Dredd trekking through the cursed earth to find the first Chief Judge Fargo.â€
A prequel could be interesting, although after so effectively establishing the world and Urban’s take on the character, I’m curious why they’d want to head back into Dredd’s past. There was one little tease in writer Alex Garland’s script about something being “off” about Dredd when psychic Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) scanned him – that seems like the kind of thing another film could pick up. Given the ground-level take of the first film, I’m betting we probably won’t see the kind of weirdness that Judge Death would bring (although that’s kind of at the top of my list for the next story to make its way to film).
Publisher 2000 AD recently provided the first official sequel to the film with new comic from the creative team of Arthur Wyatt and artist Henry Flint titled “Underbelly.”
In any event, I think we’re all just ready to see Karl Urban back under the helmet again.
*Anecdotally, I heard at the time it was because Lionsgate chose to put way more 3D releases of the film in the theaters rather than 2D versions. It also didn’t help that some people wondered if this was some kind of sequel to the not-as-bad-as-everyone-pretends-but-still-bad Stallone flick.
[Source: Shallow Graves via Screenrant]
I just wish there would be a solid news on it finally in production… one can dream, right?
Dredd was awesome. It was gritty, and violent. I loved how he never took his helmet off the entire movie.
“Origins” isn’t a prequel story. It’s a specific Dredd story arc.
Why would they do Cursed Earth stuff when they did such a fantastic job establishing Mega City One in the first movie? Because Karl Urban shooting inbred mutant cyborgs in the desert is likely a lot cheaper than him shooting people on sets and indoor locations.
Man I couldn’t be more eager to watch easily one of the most under-rated movies of 2012. Also I usually think 3D is just okay, Judge Dredd to this day has some of the most beautiful looking 3D I have seen. I hope this comes to pass.
In terms of Judge Death I would love to have them set it up and bank on a 3rd installment.
For god’s sake, we want the Judge Death scenario with plenty of Anderson. What is wrong with you people?
Agreed that we want to see another movie but we also agree with: why a prequel, when they established the awesome Megacity? More crime fighting in Megacity is what we want to see along with Block Wars and stuff. Cursed earth can wait for later. Thanks for a great article!
Lionsgate also screwed the pooch with such a mismanaged ad campaign. Putting the “3D” label in the title is code for “Wait till the DVD comes out”, and they know it. They had other films out at the same time and we all know how that goes. Travis made an incredible film and Lionsgate should have backed it up with much more television advertising. They could have doubled their box office easily.
Six months in the cubes for dereliction of duty!