It seems like a few weeks can’t pass without some kind of minor bit of chatter about the status of the "Dredd" sequel. Earlier this month, producer Adi Shankar explained how a follow-up could potentially happen by working with a smaller budget, getting a name brand director, and co-star for note for Karl Urban. But as everyone has long suspected, the notion of a sequel happening is a pipe dream, and screenwriter Alex Garland has finally made it clear that you might want to stop waiting for "Dredd 2."
"There isn’t, as far as I can tell, going to be a ‘Dredd’ sequel. The basic mechanics of film financing say that if you make a film that loses a ton of money, you’re not going to get a sequel. And that’s basically what happened," he told io9 during a roundtable talk, offering a counterpart to Shankar’s more optimistic view.
"And I understand and appreciate the support the film has had, and the campaigns that have existed for it, and it’s really genuinely gratifying — I love it in all respects except one, which is when I hear about people buying copies of the DVD in order to boost sales and to change the figures. And what I want to say to them is, ‘Don’t do that. Keep your money.’ Because the people that are making the decisions are much colder and harder than that," he continued. "And the graphs they’re looking at are not really going to be sufficiently dented by that."
That’s the cold hard reality of the world kids. You can buy all the related material you want, but if a movie doesn’t make money, getting a sequel made takes more than buying a few extra copies of the DVD. That said, Garland does keep hope alive by saying another "Dredd" could happen down the line… it just won’t involve him or anyone else associated with the 2012 movie.
