July 21, 2013 by Paul Curtin
The popular comic book series Judge Dredd hasn’t had much luck with film adaptations. The first film, 1995’s Judge Dredd, featured Sylvester Stallone donning the iconic helmet in one of the cheesiest action movies of all time. Stallone’s Dredd surprisingly made a profit at the box office; however, in turn it was panned by almost everyone who did have to sit through it and as a result never spawned a sequel.
Flash forward to the real future and a time where dark and gritty comic book adaptations are all the rage, positioning a Dredd comeback perfectly for box office success. With the franchise starting all over and rebuilding upon what made comic book fans love the character in the first place, last summer’s Dredd was a classic and one of my favorite movies over the past few years, maybe even on my list of all-time favorites.
Unfortunately, Dredd didn’t do so hot at the box office, even in the 3D format that wasn’t just tacked on to sell a few extra tickets. And with the film only earning $36.5 million at the box office with a $45 million budget, the chances of a sequel are slim with Hollywood being all about the money.
However, with very positive reviews and word-of-mouth, Dredd has been doing amazingly well on home video sales. And at this year’s Comic-Con, star Karl Urban expressed his interest (along with writer Alex Gardland) of making a sequel:
“It’s certainly my hope that we get to make more … clearly it has found an audience,” Urban said during a Comic-Con International press event on Friday. “The home video sales for ‘Dredd’ just went through the roof. I think it sold 650,000 units in the first week.”
“It’s amazing how these things occurred,” Urban said. “Not to compare it directly to ‘Blade Runner,’ but when ‘Blade Runner’ came out it was a film that didn’t necessarily do what you thought that it should have done at the box office. I feel the same way about ‘Dredd.’ The reviews were overwhelmingly fantastic … but for whatever reason it didn’t do the box office numbers that it should have.”
“I think the more people that campaign for it, the more people that email, Twitter and write into Lionsgate and say ‘We want to see more of this,’ then the more likelihood is that we’ll get to see that. We certainly are doing everything we can to ensure that happens.”
So you heard the Judge, help spread the word, sign the petition, and join the Facebook group so we can get a sequel in the works. And if you still haven’t seen the movie… What are you doing with your life? That’s an automatic fail!
