Dredd 2 Still On the Agenda, Says Urban

Dredd 3D star Karl Urban said in an interview earlier this week that a follow-up to the cult-favorite film, which ComicBook.com called the best comic book movie of 2012, is still not entirely off the table at Rebellion Films. In spite of having said before the release that the film needed to make $50 million at the U.S. box office for a sequel to be considered feasible (it made roughly a quarter of that), the DVD and Blu-ray sales have been strong and Rebellion has backed off from counting the futuristic lawman out just yet, in the face of a persistent fan campaign for a sequel. Urban, who stars in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek films, compared Dredd to that franchise, suggesting that the effect of audience demand could be to resurrect a presumably dead series.

"Interestingly enough, I did have breakfast with Alex Garland this morning. It's not off the agenda. Clearly everyone has woken up to the fact that an audience has found this movie and loves it," Urban told Collider. "It's entirely possible, and if people want to see another installment then they should be vocal about that, because, it can happen. The power of fandom can resurrect projects. In fact, that's what happened with Star Trek. They weren't going to do a third season until fans did a letter writing campaign and they continued that series." Of course, the power of fandom has also resurrected series in more recent years; Family Guy, Arrested Development and Veronica Mars have all come back, in some fashion, as a result of strong DVD sales and the constant drumbeat of fan demand. A Dredd sequel is coming to 2000AD, the comic book series where the character originated and continues to be published. The comic story, set in the world of the movie, is expected out in the fall. Meanwhile, two high-end fan films--Judge Minty, based on a particular 2000AD storyline, and Judge Dredd: Cursed Edge--have been released with the knowledge and blessing of Rebellion and Lionsgate, who own the franchise rights.