Ridley Scott on the red carpetImage via Nasser Berzane/ABACA/INSTARimages.com
A trend is emerging where director Ridley Scottshrugs at other filmmakers’ sequels to his sci-fi movies. He recently described Alien: Romulusas just “okay” in an interview with AlloCiné, and indicated that he wants to retake control of the franchise. But Romulus was credited with reviving the series with its $350 million worldwide box-office haul and “Certified Fresh” 80% Rotten Tomatoes score after the underperformance of Scott’s Alien: Covenant derailed it. He also told Vulture that Blade Runner 2049, which many consider among the greatest sequels ever made and perhaps even better than Scott’s original, was “too long.” With the franchise set to return as a streaming series soon, the 2017 sequel has seen a spike on streaming.
The movie starred Ryan Gosling alongside the returning Harrison Ford. Directed by Denis Villeneuve as his first mega-budget Hollywood movie after he’d proved his chops with Prisoners and Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 emerged as a box-office disappointment. It grossed around $275 million worldwide against a reported budget of $185 million. But it received tremendous reviews; the movie now holds a “Certified Fresh” 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Visually stunning and narratively satisfying, Blade Runner 2049 deepens and expands its predecessor’s story while standing as an impressive filmmaking achievement in its own right.”
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
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🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
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01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
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02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
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03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
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04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
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05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
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06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
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07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
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08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
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Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
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The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
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You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
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You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
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You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
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Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
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You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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The Blade Runner Franchise Is Set to Expand this Year
Scott is now ready to serve as an executive producer on the upcoming Prime Video series Blade Runner 2099, which will debut in November. Meanwhile, according to FlixPatrol, Blade Runner 2049 is currently the number-one movie in the world on HBO Max. The movie’s reputation clearly remains as strong as ever, despite Scott’s comments. The filmmaker recently returned to the sci-fi genre with The Dog Stars, which tanked both critically and commercially, suggesting that he isn’t the marquee name that he once was. Certainly, there is no love lost between him and director Neill Blomkamp, who suggested that Scott’s intervention scuppered his long-gestating Alien sequel. Asked if Scott had offered a clarification, Blomkamp told The Guardian, “Not after, no, no, no, there’s no coming back from that. I’m not gonna work on a film for two years and have the rug pulled out from underneath me and then go hang out and have beers. It’s exactly why I don’t want to do IP based on other people’s stuff ever again.” Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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Release Date
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October 6, 2017
Runtime
164 minutes
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Director
Denis Villeneuve
Writers
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Michael Green, Hampton Fancher
Producers
Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Bud Yorkin, Cynthia Sikes, Carl Rogers, Dana Belcastro, Steven P. Wegner
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