Dave McNary / Variety
“Blade Runner 2049” will have a relatively lengthy running time of two hours and 32 minutes, plus another 11 minutes for credits.
It’s 35 minutes longer than the iconic 1982 original, which checked in at an hour and 57 minutes.
Alcon Entertainment, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures have set a worldwide release on Oct. 6 with Warners distributing domestically and Sony distributing internationally. Alcon and Sony are worldwide partners on the film.
Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Carla Juri, Barkhad Abdi, and Dave Bautista are starring. Denis Villeneuve (“Sicario”) is directing the film.
The sequel is set several decades after the 1982 original, with Ford reprising his role as Rick Deckard. Plot details are mostly being kept under wraps.
Ridley Scott directed the original, which was set in a rainy dystopian version of Los Angeles in 2019 and followed Deckard as he pursued four replicants who had escaped from an off-world colony. The androids, led by Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty character, sought to extend their four-year lifespan.
The film, which was not a box office success on initial release, grew in stature over time. It was selected in 1993 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
The sequel is written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, and succeeds the initial story by Fancher and David Peoples, based on Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble of Thunderbird Films will serve as executive producers. Scott will also executive produce along with Bill Carraro.