Taika Waititi to Reboot "Judge Dredd" — With Dark Humor and Comic Book Roots. What to Expect from the Film?

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He will direct the new film, while the screenplay will be written by Drew Pearce, who worked on "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation" and the recent "The Fall Guy". Who will don Dredd's helmet remains unknown for now.

A Comic Book Film, Not a Remake

The project's still in early stages, but we already know that Waititi and Pearse are longtime friends and fans of the original comics, reports Hollywood Reporter.

They've wanted to work together for ages and seem to have found exactly the material that'll let them go wild visually while honoring the cult legacy.
Director Taika Waititi in a blazer and actor Sylvester Stallone in a red and blue helmet
Taika Waititi and Judge Dredd from the 1995 film
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film won't be a remake of previous attempts, but a reimagining rooted in the source material with potential for an expanded universe.

The Source Material

The Judge Dredd comic debuted in 1977 in 2000 AD magazine and became the calling card of British science fiction.

Its creators — John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra — built a character who was simultaneously a parody of police brutality and a critique of authoritarian regimes.

Dredd is judge, jury, and executioner rolled into one, operating in the grim future megacity of Mega-City One. A world where law is automatic and justice is an abstract concept.

A History of Failed Adaptations

There have been attempts to adapt the comic before. In 1995 — a loud, glossy but insufficiently faithful film with Sylvester Stallone.
Actor Karl Urban in a gray futuristic suit and black-red helmet
A frame from the 2012 film "Dredd"
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In 2012 — a much more successful version with Karl Urban, which deserves praise for its style and faithfulness to the original's spirit, but was killed by box office numbers (according to Wikipedia, with a $45 million budget, it earned just over $41 million).

New Hope for a Cult Hero

Now comes attempt number three. And with a director like Waititi, there's a real chance to finally strike the balance between action and satire.

In his arsenal — a sense of the absurd, the ability to maintain pace, and love for strange but charming heroes. Add to that attention to world-building details and a desire to show a system rotting from within, and the new Judge Dredd could become not just a spectacular blockbuster, but genuinely smart and relevant cinema. And yes — let's keep that helmet on. Earlier on zoomboola.com, we covered the development of an Assassin's Creed game series adaptation.