I did think it was weird that they were dropping this in January. It’s not like they’re gunning for Oscars or anything…or are they?
WB has bumped up BLADE RUNNER 2 three months from January 12th, 2018 to October 6th, 2017. The new date puts it smack dab against an untitled Fox/Marvel project, most likely GAMBIT or DEADPOOL 2. Either one of those is a pretty big deal, and I’d expect Fox or WB to flinch fairly soon. If not, well, then let’s just say that BR 2 had a much better window opening in Jan. against GNOMEO AND JULIET: SHERLOCK GNOMES.
Now, recent films like AMERICAN SNIPER, RIDE ALONG 2, KUNG FU PANDA 3, and THE REVENANT have shown that you can certainly open a film in January in the right circumstances (in fact, SNIPER had a bigger opening weekend than anything ever released in October), but the fall release date is certainly a more typical position for this kind of large-scale, sci-fi franchise. The weather is still closer to summer than winter, and the four-quadrant films and Oscar bait of the Thanksgiving/Christmas season haven’t begun to take hold of the multiplex. I
t should be noted that the two biggest October openings of all time are currently GRAVITY and THE MARTIAN, two higher-brow sci-fi films that managed to get both B.O. gold and Academy attention, something WB clearly wants to replicate (they released GRAVITY). Plus, of course, the former was directed by this film’s producer and director of the original film. Sir Ridley Scott.
Even though it’s merely a three-month change, just thinking that we’ll be seeing BLADE RUNNER 2 in 2017 instead of 2018 makes it feel a lot closer than it did before. Think of it, in a year and a half we’ll be able to go to a theater and see Ford as Deckard in a story that could pay at least as much respect to the old character as FORCE AWAKENS did to Han. We’ll even get more definitive answers as to whether he is a replicant or not, as well as probably a score of new ethical and philosophical questions to mull over. Let’s all collectively focus our prayers on making sure Denis Villeneuve sticks the landing and does Sir Ridley proud.
BLADE RUNNER 2 will show you things you people wouldn’t believe on October 6th, 2017.
