I believe in cautious optimism in cases like this, so I’m waiting until this story gets confirmed before plastering “He’s Back!” fliers all over my town and buying stock in flying cars. Still, it would make sense that Ford would be interested in a project like this, since he hasn’t had a big hit apart from the last Indiana Jones movie in a long time – and that movie also featured him reprising a popular character decades after the fact. It didn’t have any flying cars, though. (The Playlist)

Thus far, the project has no cast and no script, but screw it, it’s Friday, so let’s get excited about this for no particular reason!

*does worm on office floor*

A few things about a sequel here: The original was based on the Phillip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and pretty much exhausted that source material, so the poor son of a bitch that has to write this story will have some pretty big shoes to fill. Further, there will be no Deckard, no Harrison Ford, and none of the cast will be the same.

Sooooo…the thing we’re excited about is that the guy who directed a seminal and lauded science fiction movie is following it up with a tangential movie featuring a completely different cast decades later.

I think I’ve heard this one before.

It doesn’t end well.

1. Superman Returns

Time Away: 19 Years

This 2006 sequel was meant to return the original superhero franchise to greatness-instead in buried the series so dee the Man of Steel requires a total restart, due in 2013. What went wrong? The first film made you believe a man could fly, the second upped the ante with a superhuman fistfight…and in Superman Returns? Superman saved a plane. And stopped a bank robbery, I think. Too much talk, an unneeded super-kid and yet another appearance by Lex Luthor sunk this promising film at the script stage.

2. Escape From L.A.

Time Away: 15 Years

John Carpenter‘s 1996 sequel to his urban classic isn’t really a bad movie. The problem is that most fans had seen it already in 1981…when it was called Escape From New York. Story, side characters, jokes and even the climax are all recycled beat for beat from the original. Fans were ready to see a new Snake Plissken adventure, they just didn’t want to pay to see the same adventure they already owned on VHS (It was the 90′s, don’t judge me!).

3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Time Away: 19 Years

Harrison Ford teased a fourth Indiana Jones outing for years…and he should have kept teasing, because what we got were aliens and Shia Labeouf. The film starts out well enough, but suffers from a weak antagonist, the bizarre use of aliens instead of the mystical, and a second half that moves slower than Willie Scott in a death trap (I’m not proud of that line). But it does bring back Karen Allen, and who isn’t cheered up when Karen Allen is around?

“If Christopher Nolan would be on it I’d say, ‘All right, go for it!’ But otherwise you can’t do it. ‘Blade Runner’ is such a unique film. How do you describe a diamond? I don’t think you should ever touch it again.”

A Christopher Nolan remake of Blade Runner is admittedly fun to think about, but wouldn’t you rather see him do more original projects? Then again, it would be better than, say, a McG Blade Runner. Or, gulp, a Zack Snyder Blade Runner. Time to die. (via Hero Complex)

See, the difference between Alcon and everyone else is that Nolan made a ton of money with Alcon via Insomnia. They’re buddies. They call him “Chris” over there, and after a few drinks, “Magical Mister Mementoffelees.” They also like him cause of the way he transformed Batman into The Dark Knight:

I think the methodology that Chris Nolan brought to Batman is precisely what we aspire to whomever the filmmaker is, whether Ridley comes back and joins us or it’s someone else. It’s precisely what we aspire to with Blade Runner, that’s the template for us.

So if original Blade Runner helmer Ridley Scott comes back, they’ll tell him to direct it like Christopher Nolan? Oh man, that’s gonna be a fun meeting. (/Film)

The rights are currently held by producer/director Bud Yorkin, who will be involved with any future projects as a producer. No timetables have been given, but don’t expect the studio to sit on this guy any longer than absolutely necessary. If they hurry, they can catch the zombie fad!

Ridley Scott directed the original adaptation in 1982, which has been canonized by both film scholars and fanboys alike as the benchmark to which any and all science-fiction films are held. With that in mind, those involved with the project will no doubt feel pressure to secure a legacy in a way that those involved with 2010 and The Godfather 3 seemingly didn’t. Stay tuned as your computer begins to shake and smoke from a tsunami of Internet speculation. (Deadline)

Fortunately, his new project sounds interesting, so don’t shed too many tears for that mute Brit. He’ll find his girl one day. In the interim, Jones is working on an untitled Blade Runner homage that he is writing himself. If you are a fan of cities and of the future (and honestly, who isn’t?) then you’ll be drooling over this next project, which Jones refers to as a “city-based future film.” Granted there isn’t too much to get excited about in that revelation, but anything with Blade Runner in its DNA is probably going to garner some buzz. No details are available regarding production schedule or release, but if it’s not taking place in the distant future, he should probably get crackin’. (/Film)