BLADE RUNNER 2049 Director Denis Villeneuve Wanted To Keep Harrison Ford's Return As Rick Deckard A Secret

BLADE RUNNER 2049 Director Denis Villeneuve Wanted To Keep Harrison Ford's Return As Rick Deckard A Secret

Despite earning rave reviews and praise from fans, Blade Runner 2049 will go down as an $80 million dollar loss for Alcon Entertainment. Would a different marketing strategy have yielded greater returns?

By MarkJulian - Feb 08, 2018 04:02 PM EST
Filed Under: Sci-Fi
Source: Empire
Critical acclaim doesn't always translate into box office success. Despite a Rotten Tomatoes score of 87%, a Metacrtic rating of 81 and 5 Oscar nominations, Blade Runner 2049's poor performance has all but canceled the vague discussions of a possible third installment.

Was it the film's marketing that kept it from meeting early tracking estimates?  If director Denis Villeneuve would have had his druthers, Harrison Ford's return as Deckard would have been kept a complete surprise.

"Listen, as a film director I would love to keep everything a secret, I would love the audience just to trust and come to the theater having not seen anything of the movie. Because of course, when you design the film you try to create surprises, tension… at the end of the day it would have been tough because everyone knew that Harrison was on the project, but yes, the answer I would have loved the audience not to know how he appears, where he appears, yeah."

Original Blade Runner director Ridley Scott thought the reason 2049 flopped domestically wasn't due to the film's the marketing, but because of its 163-minute runtime.  "It’s slow. It’s slow. Long. Too long. I would have taken out half an hour."  

Did you catch Blade Runner 2049 in theaters? If the film goes on to sweep the Best Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Production Design and Visual Effects categories at the  90th annual Oscar Awards, should WB re-release the film in theaters?  Should a re-release have a reduced runtime? Share your thoughts in the usual space below.
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Menks123
Menks123 - 2/8/2018, 4:48 PM
I wish this was the case as well, but just will never happen lmao. Villeneuve is ana amazing director and can't wait for his next projects.
Origame
Origame - 2/8/2018, 7:06 PM
@Menks123 - That would be an ideal concept, but it would never work. I mean, you'd never know if you were walking into a movie that's right up your alley or a movie you would know you'd hate just from understanding the basics of what it is.
JohnGrayson
JohnGrayson - 2/8/2018, 4:52 PM
I think if you remove deckard from the story the film is still as good as it is. My first time watching this movie i was so drawn in by what was going on that by the time Ford appears i was like "Oh shit, hes in this too?! Nice!" Either way. Great film.
Pathogen
Pathogen - 2/8/2018, 4:58 PM
It would have been fantastic, if he was secret. Unfortunately, there are too many morons who pour over ever scrap of print or trailer in search of information to blast over the internet and ruin the movie going experience for others.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 2/8/2018, 5:01 PM
IronGenesis
IronGenesis - 2/8/2018, 5:09 PM
Blade Runner 3 might be a memory...

...but Dune...

...Dune!

...
...
...DUNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SpideyPuffsMJ
SpideyPuffsMJ - 2/8/2018, 5:14 PM
RedLetterMedia had a great point saying this in their review months ago. Wouldve had a much bigger impact that scene is so drawn out and we all knew Ford was lerkinng around a corner until he pops out. Also, pretty rich about the runtime coming from Ridley Scott. I know the original is necessary for a sequel but I find the original hard to get through without falling asleep. 2049 blew it out of the water for me personally.
Kevwebsz
Kevwebsz - 2/8/2018, 5:18 PM
Honestly they would've lost more if they kept Ford out of the marketing. People would've just this was a reboot of a cult film.
KnifeWasTooSlow
KnifeWasTooSlow - 2/8/2018, 5:31 PM
I'm glad he didn't take anything out, works perfectly as it was presented, such a masterful piece.
Tempo
Tempo - 2/9/2018, 2:33 AM
@SlowKnife - Such a masterful piece...of shit.
ODanil
ODanil - 2/8/2018, 5:32 PM
Scott - "It’s slow. It’s slow. Long. Too long. I would have taken out half an hour."

That's funny 'cause I would've added an hour and a half to that movie.
DENNISsystem
DENNISsystem - 2/8/2018, 5:49 PM
CRIMINALLY underrated movie. Everything about this film is a sci fi work of art.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 2/8/2018, 6:58 PM
@DENNISsystem - absolutely!
Canon108
Canon108 - 2/8/2018, 6:39 PM
Ridley Scott is out of touch...he made blade runner a 2hr movie but it fealt like 3hrs...yet 2049 was 165min and seemed like 120.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 2/8/2018, 6:57 PM
Trying to avoid spoilers: Two other characters re-appeared without announcement, one of whom added immeasurably to the movie's impact. Deckard's reconnection with that character, followed immediately by a similar scene pairing K with Joi was a level of psychological depth unseen in any genre of film. The slow pace perfectly suited the mood/tone but probably alienated most of the modern (post MTV) audience. This film will make its money back in home box office - just like the original. The 4K version is brilliant!
VileBlood
VileBlood - 2/8/2018, 8:40 PM
My favourite film of 2017.
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 2/8/2018, 9:02 PM
The more I think a about this movie the less I liked it. It was beautifully shot, and had some great sci-fir concepts but the characters were honestly extremely bland and uninteresting and it felt like it was 7 hours long. The Blad Runner movies are themselves essentially Replicants, they have all the surface elements of good films but without the actual soul of one and ultimately feel hollow and a bit cold.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 2/9/2018, 3:51 AM
@Ha1frican - I take your point, but the blandness was calculated. It added levels of questions about the nature of 'life' itself. Kubrick did the same thing with 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the main computer, HAL was more interesting than the dull, robotic astronauts.
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