Well received by critics and fans, Denis Villeneuve‘s sequel Blade Runner 2049 pulled in $260 million worldwide back in 2017, an impressive number until you realize that the film’s production budget alone was a massive $150 million. In other words, a whole lot of people went to see the movie, but it didn’t exactly turn the profit necessary to warrant another film.
Regardless, Villeneuve reveals to Empire that he’s hungry to return to the world of Blade Runner. And if he ever gets the chance, he’s not interested in making another sequel.
“It’s such an inspiring place, the Blade Runner world,” the director of the upcoming Dune movie told the site. “The problem I have is the word ‘sequel’. I think cinema needs original stories. But if you ask me if I’d like to revisit this universe in a different way, I can say yes. It would need to be a project on its own. Something disconnected from both other movies.”
He added, “A detective noir story set in the future… I wake up sometimes in the night dreaming about it.”
At this point, a lower-budget side story sounds like a pretty good idea to us.