Ridley Scott's Making a New 'Blade Runner' Movie
Today in film and television: Ridley Scott is ready for a second crack at Blade Runner, austerity measures prop up The Lone Ranger, and Midnight in Paris opens wide, again.
Director Ridley Scott will revisit the rainy, grimy future of his past and direct a new Blade Runner film, according to a report from Deadline's Mike Fleming. Whether it's a sequel or prequel to the director's 1982 science fiction classic is still unclear. Fleming says he's "committing to direct and produce a film that advances his other seminal and groundbreaking science fiction film" for Alcon Entertainment, which has a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Hopefully nobody will make Scott add a voiceover this time. [Deadline]
Don't bury Disney's big-screen version of The Lone Ranger just yet. "A person close to the production" tells the Los Angeles Times that "film crew workers, who were told last week to dismantle a western town set being built near Silver City, N.M.,..were instructed Wednesday night to hold off on the tear down." In the same story, the Times reports that "[director Gore] Verbinski, [Johnny] Depp and [producer Jerry] Bruckheimer have agreed to cut their own compensation as part of an effort to lower the budget to $230 million," down from the $250 million estimate that caused the studio to halt production on the would-be tentpole last week. That's still $20 million more than Disney is said to be willing to budget for the film, but it's a start. [Los Angeles Times]
With domestic box office receipts of just under $50 million, Midnight in Paris is already director Woody Allen's highest-grossing film. That figure will only increase now that Sony Pictures Classics is bringing the film back into wide release next weekend upping the film's theater count "from its current 328 theaters into between 500 and 600." In June the film expanded to 1,083 screens, the widest release ever for one of Allen's movies, according to IMDB. [Page Six]
Babel director Alejandro González Iñárritu is reportedly going to direct an adaptation of Michael Punke's novel The Revenant for Warner Bros. Empire notes the book is based on the real story of 19th century trapper Hugh Glass, who in 1823 was mauled by a bear and then had to make his own way home after being abandoned by the men he hired to sit by his deathbed. It'll be more revenge movie than survival story, according to Empire, with Glass "fuelled by rage and driven by revenge" to travel 3,000 miles "to get back at those who have wronged him." Since Iñárritu is directing, expect every character, including the bear, to be weighed down by his own guilt. [The Wrap via Empire]
Former CBS Early Show executive show producer David Friedman is back to work after his ouster back in May, reportedly serving as executive producer on a talk show pilot hosted by Jenny McCarthy for NBC Universal. Friedman was the fifth Early Show producer in four years to exit the program. [TV Newser]
