You all know how much I loved the recent Dredd movie. It was a great representation of the Dredd universe, and Karl Urban is absolutely perfect as Dredd. There's been a lot of talk about how, despite being loved by critics and common movie-goers, Dredd didn't make much money at the box office. It's been assumed that this would kill any chances for a sequel.
However, Karl Urban announced at Comic-Con that Dredd did really well on DVD sales. Really well. Enough so that the studio is considering another Dredd movie. This has really lit a fire under the fans that love the movie, and we now have a petition for another Dredd.
If you haven't seen the movie and you like 40K (why else would you be on my blog?), do yourself a favor and rent it. I would bet that you'll end up buying it. It's gritty, grim sci-fi, and it's telling a story rather than trying to make a political point. It's really easy to imagine that it's happening in the 40K universe, that Dredd is an Arbite rather than a Judge. That's how much the Judge Dredd comics have influenced 40K.
You don't have to take my word for it. Here what a critic over on Aint it Cool News said when announcing the petition:
One of the greatest cinematic travesties of the past few years was the heinous and in-no-way deserved underperformance of DREDD.
Director Pete Travis helmed his aggressive, hyper-violent tale with an unwavering hand and decided vision - intermixing moments of uncompromising brutality with passages of transcendent beauty. DREDD’s universe was visceral and seductive on a level we don’t see much in cinema these days; it’s a experience as much as it is a film.
Few discovered DREDD in theaters - a crime given that it was one of the most impactful big-screen experiences I’ve had in recent memory. This was due in no small part to the dispassionate promotion of the film here - evidently advanced by people who either did not understand the material they were advertising, or did not care. Despite its lowly performance, word of DREDD’s wondrousness is still getting out...the movie’s home video performance has been admirable...and calls for a sequel have been incessant since the picture bowed almost one year ago.
Anyway, head on over and sign the petition. We could use more movies like Dredd.