The Hollywood Reporter says Taika Waititi, who previously directed comics adaptations like Thor: Ragnarok will now take up what may be the 3rd live action adaptation so far of British comic Judge Dredd:
Judge Dredd. Taika Waititi.
Those two names have studio heads and executives sitting up this week as one of the hottest packages of the year hits the Hollywood marketplace.
Waititi, the Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit filmmaker, is attached to direct a new feature film take on Dredd, the popular and violent British comic book character.
Drew Pearce, the scribe known for his action movie-filled resume thanks to titles such as Fall Guy and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, is attached to write the script. […]
Sources say Pearce and Waititi both grew up with the books and are friends who have been trying to find a project to work on together for years. […]
The logline is being kept under the visor, but the pitch is said to take inspiration more from the comics than the previous screen iterations, leaning into the world-building and dark humor. It is also meant to be a fun sci-fi blockbuster that nonetheless speaks to this moment in culture. The desire is to see the movie launch a Dredd universe that could be explored with additional movies and shows across various platforms.
When they say it “speaks to this moment”, that’s a thinly-veiled hint this is bound to be another excuse for conservative-bashing, and Trump-bashing, considering the original Dredd premise was supposed to be a futuristic dystopia where the USA is made to look like a whole big police state. And if they think defending this as a satire is going to convince otherwise, forget it. “Satire” as we know it has long gotten way out of hand.
And it’s just like Hollywood to consider a violence-laden comic like this the perfect example for building a whole franchise out of. Something so bleak, and not something optimistic or less reliant on jarring violence as Dredd is. That’s exactly why the talk of dark humor doesn’t impress.
Originally published here
Avi Green
Avi Green was born in Pennsylvania, and moved to Israel at the age of 9. His first comic was the Fantastic Four. He considers himself a conservative-style version of Clark Kent, and his blog the Four Color Media Monitor is where he says "if we're going to try and stop the misuse of our favorite comics and their protagonists by the companies that write and publish them, we've got to see what both the printed and online comics news is doing wrong." His blog focuses on both the good and the bad, the newspaper media and the online websites. Unabashedly. Unapologetically. Scanning the media for what's being done right and what's being done wrong. Follow him on X @AviGreen1
English (US) · 