All eyes are on Ridley Scott’s pseudo Alien follow-up Prometheus this summer, but the director is also working on revisiting another one of his sci-fi classics.  Last August it was announced that Scott would be directing a new Blade Runner movie.  He’s been developing the film—now confirmed to be a sequel—while putting the finishing touches on Prometheus, and now it’s been announced that Scott is bringing an old friend into the fray.  Hampton Fancher, who wrote the original Blade Runner, is in talks to develop and write a sequel to their groundbreaking 1982 film.  Hit the jump for more.hampton-fancher-blade-runner-2-sequelNo details are given plot-wise other than the fact that this new film will take place “some years after the first film concluded.”  The press release mentions that Fancher and Scott initially intended Blade Runner to be the first in a series of films incorporating the themes and characters found in Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but circumstances kept further films from coming to fruition.  I haven’t read Dick’s novel, so I don’t know what characters or themes this could be in reference too, but I’m beyond thrilled to see Scott taking such an interest in sci-fi as of late.Scott himself confirmed that Harrison Ford won’t be returning for the sequel, and in a best-case scenario filming wouldn’t begin any sooner than 2013.  The director is next set to direct the Cormac McCarthy-scripted drama The Counselor, which begins production next month.  Scott is also said to be keen on a sequel to Prometheus should that film do well this summer, so I’m guessing if Prometheus takes off he’ll make that follow-up his post-Counselor film while he and Fancher continue to develop the script for this Blade Runner sequel.  Nevertheless, exciting stuff is afoot.ridley-scott-blade-runner-2-sequelRead the press release below:

LOS ANGELES, CA, MAY 17, 2012—Hampton Fancher is in talks to reunite with his “Blade Runner” director Ridley Scott to develop the idea for the original screenplay for the Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free, and Bud Yorkin produced follow up to the ground-breaking 1982 science fiction classic, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

The filmmakers are also revealing for the first time that the much-anticipated project is intended to be a sequel to the renowned original. The filmmakers would reveal only that the new story will take place some years after the first film concluded.

The three-time Oscar-nominated Scott and his “Blade Runner” collaborator Fancher originally conceived of their 1982 classic as the first in a series of films incorporating the themes and characters featured in Philip K. Dick's groundbreaking novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", from which “Blade Runner” was adapted. Circumstances, however, took Scott into other directions and the project never advanced.

Fancher, although a writer of fiction, was known primarily as an actor at the time Scott enlisted him to adapt the Dick novel for the screen. Fancher followed his “Blade Runner” success with the screenplays, “The Mighty Quinn” (1989) and “The Minus Man” (1999). He has continued to write fiction throughout his career.

Scott also will produce with Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove as well as Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO’s of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers.

The original film, which has been singled out as the greatest science-fiction film of all time by a majority of genre publications, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993 and is frequently taught in university courses. In 2007, it was named the 2nd most visually influential film of all time by the Visual Effects Society.

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State Kosove and Johnson: “It is a perfect opportunity to reunite Ridley with Hampton on this new project, one in fact inspired by their own personal collaboration, a classic of cinema if there ever was one.”

Released by Warner Bros. almost 30 years ago, "Blade Runner" was adapted by Fancher and David Peoples from Philip K. Dick's groundbreaking novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and directed by Scott following his landmark “Alien.” The film was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction). Following the filming of “Blade Runner,” the first of Philip K. Dick’s works to be adapted into a film, many other of Dick’s works were likewise adapted, including “Total Recall,” “A Scanner Darkly,” “Minority Report,” “Paycheck,” and the recent “The Adjustment Bureau,” among others.

ABOUT ALCON ENTERTAINMENT Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEO's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded the Company in 1997 with financial backing from Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx. Alcon, which is named after a mythological archer and ally of Hercules, has financed, and/or co-financed/produced over 19 films, including “My Dog Skip,” “Dude, Where’s My Car?”, “Insomnia,” “Racing Stripes,” the Academy Award nominated Best Picture “The Blind Side,” which earned Sandra Bullock a Best Actress Oscar; “The Book of Eli,” starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman; “Insomnia,” starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank and directed by Chris Nolan; “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” and “P.S. I Love You,” starring Hilary Swank, among many others.

Alcon is currently in production on “Beautiful Creatures,” based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name by authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, starring Jack O’Connell, Alice Englert, Viola Davis and Emma Thompson. Richard LaGravenese will direct from his adaptation of the novel, which is the first of a hugely popular series.

The Company recently released the box-office success “Dolphin Tale,” a 3-D family film starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson, released via Alcon’s output deal with Warner Bros.