Some questions about the Judge Dredd universe

[JayzusB.Christ]

Ah thanks, that explains it! Im reading my way through search/destroy files volume one and am digging the western vibes.

Somebody on this board (can't remember who) said that John Wagner said that Johnny talks a bit like Daniel Craig.  Vague but true

[Steve Green]

Me I think

We asked John Wagner when we were making Searcg/Destroy and he said 'wel spoken, not too posh - Daniel Craig' or along those lines

Cheers

Steve

[JayzusB.Christ]

There you go. Thanks, Steve!

[Rogue Judge]

Thanks guys! Daniel Craig it is. Also, I adhere to the theory that Dredd sounds like Clint Eastwood, it think it matches his frown nicely.

[Steve Green]

There you go. Thanks, Steve!

You're welcome!

[Sandman1]

How many different variations of the classic suit has Dredd used over the years? I mean regular attire during street patrolling, not space suits and any other special suits. I've seen the one with a raincoat and the one they used in the film from 2012.

Is there any determined layout of buildings in some sectors? I'm looking specifically for hotels, run-down motels and clubs in the same sector where the Grand Hall is located. 

[Will Cooling]

The problem with Dredd is that it needed to do well in the US, despite being a blunt-instrument satire, broadly anti-US in outlook, extremely violent, following a terrible prior movie, and with some iffy marketing. It's notable that Deadpool did well, despite being violent in a less moral manner (he's a vigilante, slicing up anyone who gets in his way and almost certainly causing considerable collateral damage; Dredd's a cop doing his job). Still, when you're a juggernaut, you can barge your way in. Dredd was a minnow at the cinema.

While they're very different films, the key difference for me is that Deadpool was actually marketed, and marketed well, whereas the distributors of Dredd, for whatever reason, seemed to actively suppress any and all news and material related to the movie getting out to public. As a result, there was simply zero awareness of the film in the run up to release, even among genre movie and comic book fans.

The flaws in the marketing are the same issue as the overall flaws in the film - the lack of money.

How many mid-budget movies are successful in today's film industry? It's became a game of naturalistic indie movies made for next to nothing or mega-budget epics. The former doesn't need to make back much to be successful, the latter are usually (although not always) too big to fail.

It's not intrinsic about Dredd that caused the film to fail except the future city setting mean it can't be done the cheap and the strip has no cheerleaders in Hollywood. A bigger budget would have allowed for the wilder sci-fi ideas to be reintroduced that would have made it more distinctive. A bigger budget would have allowed the cast to include some actual stars who would have impressed the punters. And yes it would have allowed for extensive marketing efforts.

[Trout]

How many different variations of the classic suit has Dredd used over the years? I mean regular attire during street patrolling, not space suits and any other special suits. I've seen the one with a raincoat and the one they used in the film from 2012.

Is there any determined layout of buildings in some sectors? I'm looking specifically for hotels, run-down motels and clubs in the same sector where the Grand Hall is located. 

1. As many as the artists want. They make it up as they go along.

2. No. Please see answer 1.

Canon is somewhat loose in a comic book where the prevailing theme for almost 40 years has been "Fuck you. I'll do whatever I want."

[IndigoPrime]

The flaws in the marketing are the same issue as the overall flaws in the film - the lack of money.

Perhaps, but there's also how you use limited funds. I know quite a few people who were totally turned off by the trailer, which was tonally all over the place, and also helpfully spoiled the ending. By contrast, I recall seeing one – I think it was the Japanese trailer – that had a high-octane edit that felt more like the Carpenteresque film Dredd mostly was. Not that a better trailer would have necessarily made any difference.

[Sandman1]

1. As many as the artists want. They make it up as they go along.

2. No. Please see answer 1.

Canon is somewhat loose in a comic book where the prevailing theme for almost 40 years has been "Fuck you. I'll do whatever I want."

So the overall canon in the Dredd universe is pretty loose and artists shouldn't be too concerned about that? About buildings, is there some general theme of names on buildings? I've seen quite many buildings that are named after celebrities.   

[Smith]

Blocks are ussualy named after 20/21 century celebrities.Like Billy Zane block or Charlton Heston block.

[radiator]

The flaws in the marketing are the same issue as the overall flaws in the film - the lack of money.

Perhaps, but there's also how you use limited funds. I know quite a few people who were totally turned off by the trailer, which was tonally all over the place, and also helpfully spoiled the ending. By contrast, I recall seeing one – I think it was the Japanese trailer – that had a high-octane edit that felt more like the Carpenteresque film Dredd mostly was. Not that a better trailer would have necessarily made any difference.

The Japanese trailer was so, so much better - actually made the film look exciting. The wide release US/Europe one was pretty wretched - which is weird, considering the rumours about how much they agonised over it. As you say, tonally all over the shop, leaden, unexciting, featured lots of lines of dialogue that - out of context - sounded super cheesy, and gave away too many key plot points (I didn't even realise that Ma Ma being behind the manufacture of Slo Mo was actually supposed to have been a third act twist until I saw the film, as the line revealing it was right there in the trailer).

What's perhaps most crushing is the widespread critical acclaim meant broadly little in terms of take and some of the publications you'd have expected to have been more excited posted some surprisingly middling reviews.

Yep, there's something to this. It seemed to get better reviews in non-genre media or arty farty sites like Little White Lies than sci fi/comic book type places, who didn't really seem to come around to the film until DVD release - especially in the US. It's all academic now, but I think a lot of critics went in with the preconception that the film was going to be disposable trash, and only reappraised it after the reviews were published. Case in point, the guy who reviewed it for Empire (three stars) has publicly stated on at least one occasion that he regrets lowballing it.

As to reasons why Dredd, as a character has never really caught on in the US? My own theory is that Dredd, unlike the vast majority of comic characters, has had at least half(?) of his stories written by one guy - John Wagner. And Wagner's writing style, with its eccentricities and oddball sense of humour, is a bit of an acquired taste. I think a lot of people come to Dredd on the assumption that it's much heavier and more dour than it is.

[Smith]

^I agree.I said pretty much the same earlier.Kinda ironic,considering its set in America.
Which kinda reminds me,if you started with America,like a lot of people recommend,its gonna take some ajusting to regular happenings of Judge Dredds world.

[JOE SOAP]

The flaws in the marketing are the same issue as the overall flaws in the film - the lack of money.

Not sure that's true even for the scale of film Dredd is. It seems that IMGlobal were funding the marketing in the US while gaining access to Lionsgate's rolodex.

"The bad news is that Deepak Nayer and Stuart Ford who put the picture together committed Reliance Entertainment to fund the $40M gap and backstop the P&A. The good news for Lionsgate is that it has minimal risk."

http://deadline.com/2012/09/soft-friday-box-office-clint-eastwoods-trouble-with-the-curve-disappoints-but-end-of-watch-strong-even-if-house-1-rebooted-dredd-opens-just-dreadful-341145/

My guess is they didn't know how best to market the film early so that it could be at least moderately successful - like other mid-budget films such as Looper, District 9 or John Wick - and they were surprised by the positive response to the first public screenings, so they panicked and threw more money at the marketing, but it was too late and too ill thought-out to make a difference.

[JOE SOAP]

As to reasons why Dredd, as a character has never really caught on in the US? My own theory is that Dredd, unlike the vast majority of comic characters, has had at least half(?) of his stories written by one guy - John Wagner. And Wagner's writing style, with its eccentricities and oddball sense of humour, is a bit of an acquired taste. I think a lot of people come to Dredd on the assumption that it's much heavier and more dour than it is.

I think it's hard for most "foreign" comic characters to crack the US.