Photo: Everett CollectionRidley Scott is returning to his roots, revisiting his definitive -- and beloved -- cyberpunk film "Blade Runner," for Alcon Entertainment.
Filmmakers haven't hired a writer yet, and are still figuring out what the story will be, producer Andrew Kosove told TheWrap Thursday.
"This is arguably the greatest science fiction movie ever made and we're not remaking it," he said. "It's a prequel or a sequel."
Alcon secured the rights to "Blade Runner" for prequels, sequels and other projects last March.
They knew then that they wanted Scott to direct.
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"I'm not saying we wouldn't have come up with a Plan B," Kosove, Alcon's co-founder and co-CEO, said. "But the idea was always to go right to Ridley and that's exactly what we did."
Having Scott attached "gives people a level of comfort about how serious we are," Kosove said.
Kosove said the movie's themes "are even more relevant today than they were almost 30 years ago."
The 1982 movie is about Rick Deckard, a "blade runner" played by Harrison Ford. His job is to terminate "replicants," or human clones who are bred to work.
"No one could have envisioned from a technical standpoint how quickly the world would advance over the last three decades," Kosove said. "The question is, 'What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to have humanity? ... Both as a philosophical matter and also as a narrative matter, there are lots of jumping-off points from 'Bladerunner' to make something that is inspired by 'Bladerunner.'"
Kosove said it'll be up to Scott to decide whether to invite Ford to return, but "I do not anticipate it."
He said he'd like to have the movie inn production in a year-and-a-half.
"There will be one more announcement we will make before we go dark for a while," he said. "We have to figure out who the writer is going to be and a general framework for the movie."
Alcon bought the rights from producer-director Bud Yorkin, who will produce the new film along with Alcon, Cynthia Sikes Yorkin and Broderick Johnson and Kosove. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, the CEOs of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers.
Meanwhile, Scott is in postproduction on "Prometheus," a sort-of prequel to his classic 1979 "Alien," for Fox.
Deadline first reported the news.
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