The world of Blade Runner heading back to the big screen?
The Warner Bros. based financing and production company Alcon Entertainment is now in final negotiations to acquire the “film, television and ancillary” rights to produce sequels to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner. Though the deal prevents them from directly remaking the original film, Alcon would be free to produce as many sequels and prequels involving the film’s universe as they like.
Alcon is acquiring the rights from Bud Yorkin, who served as an executive producer on the original movie. Yorkin will serve as a producer on the projects. Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs, had this to say:
“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.”
The 1982 cult classic, which was directed by Scott and starred Harrison Ford, was based on a Philip K. Dick novel titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The story is set in a future where man has created clones called replicants who are used for dangerous work. When the replicants rebel against their makers on a space colony, they are banned and hunted down. The movie centered on Rick Dekard, a retired member of a police officer corps called blade runners who hunt down replicants on Earth. Dekard is called back to duty one more time to track six clones who escape a colony and come to Los Angeles.