It's always a bad sign when "they" have decided to make a new movie, when they have no script, no story etc. in place yet. So it is a same case as "let's make some romantic comedy for the autumn market, any ideas for the setting?".

Maybe there are exceptions, but to me it seems that the greatest movies have had the story, script or idea already in place when someone has decided that maybe it should be made into a movie.

EDIT: Is "Aliens" such an exception? Or "Terminator 2"? I have no idea which came first in their case, the idea/story/script or the general idea that a sequel should be made.

I wonder if e.g. "The Big Lebowski" would have materialized simply by some publisher telling a director: "Say, I really think we should make a movie about some lazy bum, I bet it would be a hit.".

It's not even really that anymore - the Hollywood film industry has got hooked on remakes - mostly because they know they can tap into and expect the existing franchise to do all the marketing and publicity for them and get a good number of bums on seats in the opening week. Scarily they seem to be following the Uwe Bol approach to films - I mean I can't see how you can throw millions at something like Transformers films and then have a script and key actors so poorly constructed as to be laughable (I mean heck I saw the second film and didn't even care one bit for Prime - heck did he have more than 10 mins screen time?).

Sadly it seems the fire to make a good film has burnt out of many in the industry and we are left with the beancounters/marketing taking over and presenting film after film of repeat and watered down content made to fit into standards and theoretical models for getting the most in on the opening weeks (to the point where things like comedies only need enough jokes to fill the ad not the film ;)).

Replace some key words and it sounds like you're talking about the games industry

That is U.S.A. for you and Hollywood especially. I don't know how many movies, even American, that gets a remake now and then. I think that some of it has to do with placing (and using) the contemporary "icons"/"stars" of the time of the re-make in the movie to generate interest or simply to twist more money out of what have already been spent to catapult these "icons"/"stars" into "stardom"......

But the U.S. seems also generally culturally to have this attitude that for it to be good enough or entertaining (?) then it must be made "the American way"/"U.S. style".........
I am not saying that the Americans can't make TV series or movies , on the contrary they are very good at it, but as someone from a different culture and with a lot wider taste of what I find "entertaining" or "worth viewing" then sometimes I am almost stunned by the apparant lack of appreciation (and the readyness to make a do over) by the Americans with respect to somethings....
One of the examples is for me the British TV series "The Lives And Loves Of A She-Devil" , I am not denying that the American remake "She-Devil" with Roseanne Barr & Meryl Streep can have its "charm" , I just thinks that it so totally pales in comparison with the original British TV series (though the British DVD transfer lacks a bit of quality) .

Sometimes it gets kind of tricky though to judge if a remake (or pre-quel/sequel) is OK, because the Americans very often are very good at making all this. So though I generally think that they should leave the work of e.g. "Luc Besson" alone and I think that movies such as "" , "[url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095250]The Big Blue, Le grand bleu, original title" and "La Femme Nikita" are simply something that are as good as can be, then again I am still seduced by the performance of Briget Fonda, in their "La Femme Nikita" remake "Point of No Return", into thinking that they did a decent job at least...... (though they can't beat the French at their "home turf")

So while I share some of the reservations put forward here with respect to the "Ridley Scott's" making of a pre-quel/sequel/remake of the "Bladerunner" movie then I also know the professionalism by which they "seduce" the audiences so that one just needs to wait and see what they deliver if.

With the respect to the objections that another movie will ruin the "Bladerunner" universe then that , I think , also remains to be seen......


P.S.
Sorry, but the GOG.com forum software are simply so poor/"****** up that some characters in links that I placed created major parsing errors why I had to spend very long time cleaning up this post to remove the link characters that "provoked" the forum software to mistranslate the input (links and links text placed) .

Your not the only one.

I was reading this post yesterday before I left work and was thinking “Man I never watch Blade Runner all the way through.” So I go home last night and start channel surfing and there it is Blade Runner on AMC. The movie was just starting too. Well I started watching it but after an hour I past out on the coach.

It was probably because it was past your bedtime that you passed out ;-)

Hehe this reminds me of the following clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S9WyYaO7mQ

But seriously though, Bladerunner is fucking awesome.

Totally agree about the US being remake crazy, especially with foreign films.

I don't know why they bothered remaking "Let the Right One In". I didn't feel the remake added anything meaningful to the original. Even worse was that in the director comments, he was speaking as if the ideas for the movie were novel...

At least, they didn't do a US version of Barbarian Invasions that I know of.

I guess I can sort of understand the desire to make a modern version of some old classics (ex: stuff that was made in the 50s) and put some modern sensibility into it to reach a broader audience.

Exemple: Star Trek remake. Ok, it wasn't made in the 50s, but it kinda looked dated and I think the remake benefited from a modern makeover.

It's a hit or miss cult classic.

You may or may not like it.

Me and my mother swear by it, but my gf didn't like it and my father is indifferent toward it.

My bed time is about 930pm (it was only 845PM) but after working a 13 hour day I was a little run down. My GF did call me a pussy for falling alseep so early.

I got a family member working odd hours and sometimes also long shifts so I quite get/understand your situation. If you work odd hours or have very long working time then there is nothing "pussy" about being tired and needing some shut eye.... If you however do pass out /fall asleep regularly for no apparent reason then you ought to see a doctor just to make sure that you are allright... (some diseases can make you drowsy and make it hard for you to stay awake)...

Hehe true, but the games industry has the bonus that its very easy (compared to films) to break into it as an indy developer. Heck with PCgames pushing more online distribution methods like Steam really allow an indy not just to be published with greater ease, but to also hit a much bigger target audience.

Hope so, They have maintained as they are doing regularly in their movies.