Taika Waititi, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Jojo Rabbit and two installments of Marvel’s Thor franchise, is now setting his sights on Judge Dredd, a new cinematic take on the iconic British comic book character.
Waititi will direct the film with a screenplay penned by Drew Pearce, best known for his work on The Fall Guy and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. While no studio is currently attached to the project, it is in the Hollywood market. The film's cast is yet to be finalised.
Judge Dredd first emerged from the pages of the long-running British comic anthology 2000 AD in the late 1970s, created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. Set in the sprawling dystopia of Mega-City One, Dredd is both a law enforcement officer and a literal judge, jury, and executioner. The character is often used as a satirical lens on authoritarianism and Western political culture and is notable for his bionic enhancements and unflinching dedication to law and order.
The character has had two major cinematic outings to date: the 1995 Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone, which underwhelmed critics and audiences alike, and 2012’s Dredd with Karl Urban, which earned better reviews but struggled commercially.
Taika Waititi’s wide-ranging directing résumé includes Marvel blockbusters like Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder, as well as smaller critical hits like Next Goal Wins and Jojo Rabbit, which earned him an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay. He started his career with Eagle vs Shark in 2007, following it up with directorials like Boy and What We Do in the Shadows. He has also directed episodes of The Mandalorian, Reservation Dogs, and Our Flag Means Death and is set to adapt Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun for Sony Pictures, with Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams attached to star.
