Ridley Scott returns to 'Blade Runner'

By Adnan Tezer Aug 19, 2011, 19:27 GMT

A new version of Ridley Scott\'s 1982 masterpiece set in a dystopian, neon-drenched Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered robots called replicants have been banned on Earth and are used exclusively for hazardous work on Earth\'s off-world colonies. Replicants detected on Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police officers known as "Blade Runners."The film centers on a renegade group of replicants in Los Angeles and the ...more

Ridley Scott will direct the new version of his 1982 classic sci-fi film "Blade Runner."

According to Variety, Warners-based Alcon Entertainment purchased the rights to the film from producer Bud Yorkin five months ago.

The rights include film, TV and ancillary franchise rights to produce prequels and sequels but not a remake of the 1982 original.

It has not been decided whether the new version will be a prequel or sequel.

Yorkin, Cynthia Sikes Yorkin and Scott will produce with Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

The original starred Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and Daryl Hannah.

Scott directed from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples that was loosely based on the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick.

The film depicts a dystopian, neon-drenched Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered robots called replicants (essentially indistinguishable from humans) are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation.

They have been banned on Earth and are used exclusively for hazardous work on Earth's off-world colonies. Replicants detected on Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police officers known as "Blade Runners."

The film centers on a renegade group of replicants in Los Angeles led by Roy Batty (Hauer) and the retired Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.

Upon its initial release in 1982, the film was deemed a disappointment for its poor box office returns, but through VHS and later DVD, the film became one of the greatest cult films ever as well as a pioneer for future sci-fi films.