People have been talking about a sequel to Ridley Scott's classic science-fiction movie BLADE RUNNER since forever. Scott himself announced he was working on it in 2011. It seems like the project is really going forward now though since it was given a new director, a team of screenwriters and announced that Harrison Ford would be back as Rick Deckard. The geeks of the internet are deliriously happy about the prospect of a new Blade Runner, which is something way beyond my comprehension. The history of sequels is raising several red flags about that project and we're too blinded by our excitement to see them. Here are a couple points to keep in mind to help you manage your expectations.
- The Blade Runner concept is based on a Philip K. Dick novel titled DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? Dick, one of the most unique and talented science-fiction authors I know of, died in January of 1982, eleven months before I was born. I don't think he was even alive for the theatrical release. The mind that brought you the ideas that fuel the film we all love is long dead. He's not going to have anything to do with the sequel. There aren't that many authors of Philip K. Dick's ilk working today, I don't think there are any.
- Sequels are overrated. Everyone always gets excited about sequels, because it means we're getting to spend more times with the characters we love, in their carefully constructed world. They often disappoint though, because it's just "not the same thing". There are some thing you just can't live up to. Guns N' Roses have been trying to live up to APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION for 28 years now and they just can't. How can you live up to the greatest hard rock album of all-time? How can you live up to a mythical science-fiction movie? I don't know. My pinky tells me you just can't. Sometimes you just have to appreciate things for what they are and stop disfiguring them with sequels.
- They could always pull it off. I mean, it's been done. PREDATOR 2 was so far removed from its legendary predecessor, that it was a great pulp, straight-to-video movie in itself. They changed directors. Changed the lead actors. All they kept, really was the alien and it worked because it was so deliciously energetic and out of whack that it became its own thing, really. There's a lot of talent associated with the movie already, Denis Villeneuve is a tremendous director, It's a tremendous task, but he could make it work if he thinks outside the box enough.
- Big budget means big compromises. Kurt Vonnegut once said about creative writing : "Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia." It's sound advice, but big budget movies don't work like that. They're not meant to create sound art, they're meant to make money so they have to please as many people as possible. The goal is to put asses in theater seats. To get that $12 out of your pockets, make their money back and then some. Therefore, the script is going to be written to please target audiences, namely people who aren't fans of the franchise already because it's where the money is.
- This one's an intuition, but if a project smells like a success it's usually not bounced for several years like this one. There is a paper trail of a Blade Runner sequel going back to 2007, that's eight years ago. For some reason, the movie industry people are just not committed to it and judging by the personnel rotation, not all that many people do. Resuscitating old IPs for sequel is a money-crunching practice that's almost as ancient as Hollywood itself, but turning Blade Runner, a movie that was meant to be a one time deal, into a franchise 33 years later might be stretching it a little thin.
- Look, guys. A new Arnie movie. It looks really weird.
