[Existentialistic]

Is anyone else feeling torn about the whole idea of revisiting the Blade Runner universe?

I'm a diehard Blade Runner fan, it's certainly one of the best science fiction films ever produced and of course I love Phillip K Dick's work. However, I'm not really sure about the idea of BR2. The ending of Blade Runner was filled with ambiguity, it almost required further thought and discussion but is it really necessary to create a sequel? Can't we just leave it alone?

Whilst I have faith in Sir Ridley Scott, I would really hate to see a Blade Runner sequel turn into the next Phantom Menace or just another generic Hollywood reboot.

What do you guys think?

[Ape Gone Insane]

I worry about this obsessive Hollywood culture for making sequels and franchises out of anything. Blade Runner doesn't need a sequel. It's just perfect the way it is. A sequel would just re-tread the same ground as the first.

What may work is a film set in that universe which is neither a direct prequel or sequel and explores different themes or the same themes in a very different way. But I'm very doubtful about what they are proposing.

[Abiraleft]

I'm ****ing terrified about this, tbh - I think it's a terrible idea.

[silent ninja]

Some films are meant to be standalone. It's like making a sequel to TGTBTU....what's the point?

I'm not so trusting of Ridley Scott. He was happy enough to accept a mediocre script in Prometheus.

[Phalanges]

(Original post by Ape Gone Insane)
I worry about this obsessive Hollywood culture for making sequels and franchises out of anything.

I don't see this as being the issue here at all. Marvel greenlighting every Avengers movie they can think of because they've got a proven audience, whereas the only way to ensure retention of the Blade Runner audience would be to rerelease the film in cinemas. Sequels aren't easy money for 30 year old films in the same way that reboots are - if anything, they're frowned upon because you could be alienating a large chunk of your audience simply because they didn't see the original. So if a sequel is made it's not so much a case of Hollywood just churning along the franchise badwagon, but rather the continued obsession of one man over his magnum opus. Just look how many times he has recut it.

That's not to say I think it would necessarily be a good film. I suspect it would end up being what Reloaded is to the Matrix, making overt stabs at profundity that make no sense and completely missing the point of why the original was a success. The fact that Ridley Scott believes there is no ambiguity in the film emphasises that in my mind.

[hogso]

Fully expect a similar (if not identical) reaction to that of Prometheus when this is out

[Champagne Supernova]

I think it's an awful idea. Should be left stand-alone I didn't know about a proposed sequel until this thread.

[TheKingoftheJews]

To be honest I'm not looking forward to it. Prometheus was awful and destroyed any confidence I had in Ridley Scott.