It's still somewhat hard to believe that it's happening, but fifteen years after Sylvester Stallone's crap fest Judge Dredd, Hollywood has decided to reboot with Karl Urban under the mask this time around. The film is already set to begin production in South Africa fairly soon under the direction of Pete Travis based on a script by 28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland, but now it will enter with confidence that comes with having a major studio at your back. THR reports that Lionsgate has picked up the rights to the film and will serve as distributor. In addition to Dredd, the studio also picked up the Jason Statham actioner Safe as well as the Simon West film Protection with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the lead. As previously announced, the new Dredd film, which will be in 3D, sticks close to the comics from which the character originates and sees Dredd as a law enforcement official with the rights to judge, sentence and execute criminals on the spot.

Given how talented Garland is as a writer (he also scripted the Danny Boyle film Sunshine and this year's Never Let Me Go), and Urban is as an actor (plus the fact that he won't be removing the helmet), I feel strangely excited for this film. I can't say that I'm thrilled to hear that the film will be in 3D, but I'm also not surprised in the least. Here's hoping that Travis can provide the film that Dredd fans can actually get behind.