"The stuff surrounding ‘Dredd‘ is all to do with realpolitik and the hard realities of filmmaking, and it’s very difficult making a case for ‘Dredd’ in reality because the first film didn’t work, right? And then the second film didn’t work, I would say, in different ways than the first film didn’t work [laughs]. But it manifestly didn’t work as a theatrical release, particularly in America, or in fact anywhere outside of the UK," screenwriter Alex Garland told SciFiNow in December, discussing the possibility of a "Dredd" sequel. "And that makes it a hard argument."
Taking a break from making unauthorized bootleg fan movies that get yanked off the internet, Shankar explains the ins and outs of movie financing, and how "Dredd 2" could theoretically get made. Essentially, it boils down to convincing the distributors around the world to bank on the sequel to make up for that lost money the first time around, and encouraging them to invest by: lowering the budget, getting a bigger name than Pete Travis behind the camera, and pairing up Karl Urban with a bigger star. Basically, don’t hold your breath, but that said, nothing is impossible and with the international box office more important than ever, who knows, maybe somehow the formula of money and logistics could be figured out. I doubt it, but see what Shankar has to say below.
That clip of Shankar kind of guarantees no-one would give him decent money for a Dredd sequel.
Adi Shankar was not a Producer on Dredd – he was an Exec Producer.