Dredd Research

Producer: 

The producers for Dredd were Alex Garland, Andrew MacDonald and Allon Reich. Alex Garland is a novelist and screenwriter and had also wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later'. Andrew MacDonald is a Scottish film producer and is best known for his collaborations with director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge in the films '28 Days Later', 'Trainspotting' and 'Shallow Grave'. The green light for this film was in 2008.

Distributor:

It was distributed by Entertainment Film, Lionsgate.

Script Writer:

The writer for this film was Alex Garland, an English novelist, film producer and screenwriter. He published his first novel, 'The Beach' in 1996 which was then later created into a film by Danny Boyle staring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Budget:

The estimated budget was $45,000,000

Box office gross:

The box office gross was $36,000,000

Director & Cast

The director for this film production was Pete Travis who has directed films such as 'Vanage Point', 'Endgame' and 'Omaghe' 

The cast included stars such as

Karl Urban who played Dredd who is famous for his roles in 'Star Trek Into Darkness' and 'The Bourne Supremacy.' 

Olivia Thirlby, Anderson, is well known for roles in 'Juno' and 'No Stings Attached'

Lena Headey who plays 'Ma-Ma' who has stared in films such as 'The Purge' and '300'

Jason Cope, Zwirner who is known for his role in 'Doomsday' and 'District 9.' 

Marketing:

The film had a website ( http://www.dreddreport.com/ ) which was good for marketing as it was interactive but could have possibly been hard to find for those wanting to look at it. There were teaser trailers but due to the 18 certificate given they were not widely shown but were mainly found on 'youtube' and the website (above) The last strategy used were still and motion posters to give the last push for promotion.

(http://www.judgmentiscoming.net/motionposter/dreddposter.swf)

Critical Reception:

Fueled by bombastic violence and impressive special effects rooted in self satire and deadpan humor Dredd 3D is a rare example of a remake that actually works.

Dredd was awarded 78% or 7/10 according to review website 'Rotten Tomatoes.'

Reasons for lack of success:

Although the advertising won an award for best thriller TV spot the advertisement wasn't enough. Due to the fact Dredd was highly rated, 18, the trailer could not be shown within a certain time without risk of the younger audience seeing it. This in it's self restricted the viewing audience as people under 18 could not view it. I believe that television advertisement would have been perfect to use if the certificate was appropriate to do so.

Screening options was another issue as Dredd was first originally only shot in 3D and not all cinemas are equipped with such screening necessities narrowing down the viewing opportunities.  

As the film is based on the comic book 'Judge Dredd' only those familiar with the comic would understand the background to the story. Also as the film included various gore and violence scenes only those who enjoy watching such films would go and see it which again limits the audience available. 

Awards: 

Won:

Golden Trailer Award for Best thriller TV spot

Nominated:

• Most original TV spot
• Best action TV spot
• Best graphics in a TV spot
• Best music TV spot
• Best action poster
• Most original poster

Technology used: 

The film was shot digitally and primarily in 3D using SI2K, RED MX and Phantom Flex high-speed cameras and multiple camera rigs were used. Also, some 2D elements were converted to 3D in post-production. 

Tie-Ins: 

Dredd was released on DVD,Blue-Ray and Digital download on 14th January 2013 in the UK. No toys from this film were made because of the high certification rating (18) meaning that its not suitable for a younger audience. A tie in comic book was published on the 5th September 2012 by the Judge Dredd Magazine editor Matt Smith and drawn by 2000AD artist Henry Flint. The comics plot contains a prequel to the films narrative and follows Ma-Ma's life as a prostitute.

Dredd Film Review

I really enjoyed watching Dredd. It had an easy story line to follow and was full of action meaning that the film grabbed my attention straight away. Dredd is an original film based on the comic book character Judge Dredd.  I wasn't entirely sure on what the film was about when it first started and beforehand as I had never heard of the film or character Dredd. I was pleasantly surprised as the film developed, I found the action and violence positively thrilling to watch and I thought all scenes were well directed and all fight scenes were choreographed perfectly. I wouldn’t recommend this film, to those that are squeamish at the sight of blood but for people that love the thrilling adrenaline packed action/sci-fi films, Dredd is perfect. As the film was an action/thriller it included very graphic scenes of blood and violence, if the film was without such scenes I believe that it would be nowhere near as gripping and exciting as I found it. Slow motion shots were used to bring a more elegant and artistic feel to the film which contrasted the gore ridden scenes, which again I feel that if these scenes weren’t included the film would lose the interest of its viewers very quickly. We were informed before the film that Dredd actually lost money at the box office which I was very surprised by as I thoroughly enjoyed the film and thought the balance between the gory scenes and scenes of less intense fighting were just right. One thing I was confused by was when the second group of judges entered the locked down block as it wasn't made clear why they were there and who had called them, I also found a minority of “mind reading” scenes unnecessary and somewhat disturbing. That in itself was very confusing. The initial idea of reading someone’s mind is not exactly challenging but I feel as if it was over complicated as there were several layers to these scenes which weren’t thoroughly explained, resulting in the confusion. One thing that did really interest me about this film is that the villain “mama” was a women, not something you see very often in films like this, I believe that this added to the excitement of the film and her background story we are given makes her appear much more menacing and evil then we initially think. She has a very violent character which is something we wouldn’t expect to see in a film like this which again, makes the film that little more exhilarating. All in all I believe that this is a very well produced film which unfortunately didn't sell as expected but for me as a viewer I thoroughly enjoyed the gripping and tense story line and will most defiantly be recommending it to others and watching it again myself.