Ridley Scott planning a new Blade Runner film

1982's Blade Runner was Ridley Scott's third feature, after the little-seen The Duellists and the classic Alien. And though many of his later movies were more commercially successful (Blade Runner flopped commercially, at least the first time it came out, while Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down were all hits), he's never again made anything so important; Blade Runner's visionary production design has had a massive influence on film, advertising, video games, and George Michael videos.

So maybe it's no surprise that he's re-cut the movie twice; maybe it's even less surprise that almost thirty years later, he's signed on to direct a new Blade Runner film. There's no word whether it's a prequel, a sequel, or just another story in the same world. By the time it hits theaters, it may not even be Blade Runner — Scott made waves last year by announcing he was finally making a long-rumored Alien prequel, which turned out to be a related but different film entirely, the soon-to-be released Prometheus. (This was probably a sincere change of direction, but if not, it was a damn canny marketing strategy.)

Honestly, it might be just as well for this new film to go the same way. Blade Runner's just about perfect, and Scott's not the director he was in 1982. I'd rather appreciate a latter-day Ridley Scott movie for its own qualities than compare it to an untouchable classic. Besides, Harrison Ford has an earring now. Isn't that bad enough?