Everywhere Karl Urban goes, questions about Dredd will follow. The actor has spent the better part of the last ten years fielding talk of a potential sequel to Pete Travis’ 2012 cult favorite, and his answer never changes. The Boys‘ Billy Butcher has constantly reaffirmed his desire to throw on the helmet once again should the opportunity ever arise, but unfortunately, it hasn’t yet.
Almost two decades after the dismal Sylvester Stallone vehicle, Travis teamed up with writer Alex Garland to reboot the comic book icon, and the results were superb. Somehow, Urban managed to deliver a gruffly charismatic and fully-formed performance as the title hero using only his chin, and while the plot was more than a little reminiscent of Gareth Evans’ The Raid, the sci-fi elements gave Dredd much more leeway when it came to dialling up the insanity.
Despite solid reviews from critics, though, it was a box office bomb after failing to even recoup the $45 million budget in theaters, but it then went on to almost instantly find a second life on home video. Talk of a sequel has reared its head occasionally since then, but nobody at a studio level appears to possess the same sort of enthusiasm for more adventures in Mega-City One that Urban does.
Once again reaffirming the movie’s enduring popularity, Dredd is now one of the most-watched titles on Hulu and has been for a couple of days. A second installment remains an unlikely proposition, and the planned TV series is still stuck in development hell years after it was first announced with very little forward movement having been made, but with the unsung favorite playing well on streaming, the fanbase will only continue to grow.
