A new Judge Dredd movie is in the works, but we doubt many fans would had the director as their first guess to lead the project. It’s Taika Waititi.
The director, perhaps best known for his work on Thor: Ragnarok and What We Do in the Shadows, has signed up to take on a new adaptation of 2000AD’s best-known export, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Waititi is not down to write the film, though. That job has gone to Drew Pearce, whose previous credits include Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, The Fall Guy and Iron Man 3.
There have been two big movie adaptations of Judge Dredd to date. The 1995 version, starring Sylvester Stallone as Dredd, is generally seen as a flat-out bad film, and earned Stallone a Worst Actor Razzie nomination. It was also a box office flop.
Alex Garland directed 2012’s Dredd, which is a riot of a film, starring Karl Urban as Dredd. Despite strong reviews, it actually made less money in cinemas than the 1990s version. It was also a cheaper film to make, but did not make its money back in cinemas.
Elsewhere in Dredd adaptation news, back in 2017, 2000 AD owner Rebellion announced it was making a TV show, Judge Dredd: Mega-CIty One.
“If everything goes according to plan, we’re going to make one of the most expensive TV shows the UK has ever seen,” Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley said at the time. Everything clearly didn’t go to plan, though, as we’ve heard nothing substantive on the project since.
With two notable Hollywood names attached, though, this new Dredd movie sounds like it has a chance of actually making it to cinemas.
Waititi’s involvement suggests we may also get to see more of the weird side of the Dredd fiction, which was always present in the comics, but was largely absent from the gritty 2012 film.
Taika Waititi’s next film is Klara and the Sun, an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel about a robot. It was slated for a 2025 release, but we’re yet to hear of a firm release date and are running out of months in 2025.
Meanwhile, Duncan Jones has a Rogue Trooper movie due out soon too. Rogue Trooper is another popular 2000 AD series, if not one with quite the clout of Judge Dredd.
The first stills of the film were released a few weeks ago, showing the unusual look we’re getting — and this is one of the biggest movies we’re aware of to date that uses video game engine Unreal Engine 5 for its effects.
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