‘Dredd 3D’ Takes The Top Spot At UK Box Office
Director Pete Travis’ Dredd 3D, the second cinematic adaptation of the popular British comic book character, has claimed the top spot at the UK box office. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film managed to outshine its competition, snagging the first place position with $1.6 million in ticket sales. Given that the character is one of the Britain’s most famous superheroes, it’s not surprising that fans turned up to see the big guy’s latest big screen adventure.
The film, which stars Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, and Lena Headey, follows the adventures of the titular character as he teams up with a rookie to take down a gang of drug-dealing thugs. Presently, the film is certified fresh over at Rotten Tomatoes, though this could change once the picture lands in the hands of American film critics.
Fans of Judge Dredd have every right to be skeptical about the character’s latest cinematic endeavor. Director Danny Cannon’s much-maligned adaptation, which starring Sylvester Stallone, Rob Schneider, and Diane Lane, was both a critical and financial disaster when it arrived in 1995. During its theatrical run, Judge Dredd only managed to amass $34 million in ticket sales. Overseas, the film did a little better, snagging an additional $78 million. Considering the picture had a production budget of $90 million, these numbers aren’t exactly impressive.
Dredd 3D star Karl Urban explained to Bloody Disgusting that he was extremely happy with the script, which he felt was much stronger than the previous iteration. “I read the script and firstly I was just relieved to find it was fainted to the character that I loved when I was a kid,” he explained. “Secondly I had a meeting with Alex, Andrew and Pete in Los Angeles and they said: ‘Look just to be clear; the helmet stays on. We’re not going to get three quarters of the way through this movie or half way through and you’re going to start asking to write scenes without the helmet’. I assured them: ‘I wouldn’t be here taking this meeting and discover scenes where Dredd was without it.'”
If all goes well for the feature, it shouldn’t have much of a problem recouping its modest $45 million budget. Dredd 3D — or simply Dredd here in the States — is presently scheduled to open in North American theaters on September 21.
