Blade Runner

Blade Runner
Collage of a man holding a gun, a woman holding a cigarette, and a futuristic city-scape.
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed byRidley Scott
Screenplay by
Based onDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
Produced byMichael Deeley
Starring
CinematographyJordan Cronenweth
Edited by
Music byVangelis
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. (worldwide)
Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong)
Release dates
  • June 25, 1982 (1982-06-25) (United States)
  • December 22, 1982 (1982-12-22) (Hong Kong)
Running time
117 minutes[1]
CountriesUnited States[2][3]
Hong Kong[4]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[5]
Box office$41.8 million[6]

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples.[7][8] Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.

Blade Runner initially underperformed in North American theaters and polarized critics; some praised its thematic complexity and visuals, while others critiqued its slow pacing and lack of action. The film's soundtrack, composed by Vangelis, was nominated in 1982 for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe as best original score. Blade Runner later became a cult film, and has since come to be regarded as one of the greatest science fiction films. Hailed for its production design depicting a high-tech but decaying future, the film is often regarded as both a leading example of neo-noir cinema as well as a foundational work of the cyberpunk[9] genre. It has influenced many science fiction films, video games, anime, and television series. It also brought the work of Dick to Hollywood's attention and led to several film adaptations of his works. In 1993, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Seven different versions of Blade Runner exist as a result of controversial changes requested by studio executives. A director's cut was released in 1992 after a strong response to test screenings of a workprint. This, in conjunction with the film's popularity as a video rental, made it one of the earliest movies to be released on DVD. In 2007, Warner Bros. released The Final Cut, a 25th-anniversary digitally remastered version; this is the only version over which Scott retained artistic control. The film is the first of the franchise of the same name. A sequel, titled Blade Runner 2049, was released in 2017 alongside a trilogy of short films covering the thirty-year span between the two films' settings. The anime series Blade Runner: Black Lotus was released in 2021.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbfcoriginal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Blade Runner". AFI.com. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  3. ^ "Blade Runner". BFI.org. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 6, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  4. ^ "Blade Runner (1982)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  5. ^ Gray, Tim (June 24, 2017). "'Blade Runner' Turns 35: Ridley Scott's Unloved Film That Became a Classic". Variety. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  6. ^ "Blade Runner (1982)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 15, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  7. ^ Turan, Kenneth (September 13, 1992). "From the Archives: 'Blade Runner' went from Harrison Ford's 'miserable' production to Ridley Scott's unicorn scene, ending as a cult classic". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  8. ^ Lussier, German (February 4, 2021). "The Mistake That Changed the History of Blade Runner". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Torres Cruz 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).