The long-awaited sequel for Blade Runner finally has a release date, although we will have to wait until 2018 to see it.
Blade Runner 2 will open on Jan. 12, 2018, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, notes Variety.
The film will be set decades after the beloved 1982 film, which was set in 2019 Los Angeles and starred Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard. Ford will be returning and will be joined by Ryan Gosling. Filming is expected to start in July and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins will be working on it.
Ridley Scott, the director of Blade Runner, conceived the story with original co-writer Hampton Fancher. Michael Green and Fancher wrote the screenplay. The original film was written by Fancher and David Peoples and was based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
Denis Villeneuve, who directed Sicario and Prisoners, is directing.
Blade Runner 2 is being produced by Alcon Entertainment and will be released by Warner Bros.
The MLK weekend isn’t typically thought of as a time to release high-profile genre movies, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the studios are becoming more willing to release big hits outside of the summer. The recent success of Deadpool, in particular, shows that January and February can no longer be considered movie graveyards.