Just when director Denis Villeneuve’s highly praised, but underseen Blade Runner 2049 had settled into its emeritus years as a film destined to become a cult classic, it has come up in the news yet again. It’s not a particularly happy story, but it’s certainly an interesting one, as a lawsuit between production company Alcon Entertainment and European auto maker Peugeot has taken a gigantic step back in California court. The cause: “too much and too little detail.”
These proceedings stem from a complaint filed by Alcon Entertainment, who felt that Peugeot had failed to honor an agreement to promote Blade Runner 2049 during its theatrical release, and thus contributed to the film’s box office failure. With a supposed loss of $80 million coming from the sci-fi film’s box office release back in 2017, one could see why Alcon would be rather cross with a would-be promotional partner and its perceived sabotage.
However, that’s where the story gets interesting, as per the recent report from THR, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney apparently agreed with Peugeot’s request to dismiss the Blade Runner 2049 case that Alcon Entertainment had filed against them. The reasons being that the case that Alcon had built against the car manufacturer, which was required to present a "short and plain statement" to validate the complaint, was not present.
What was present, however, was at least 10 pages that contained information on an Audi commercial starring Daniel Craig, as well as general information on the entertainment industry in the state of California. The total length of the lawsuit is 160 pages, a package that was deemed overstuffed, and yet sparse at the same time, with a failure to achieve its objective.
The onus is now on Alcon Entertainment to amend its case against Peugeot, as the court has given the company two weeks to amend the filing in hopes of providing a viable allegation against its supposed Blade Runner 2049 partner.
What’s similarly unclear is how this potential lawsuit could affect the world stemming from Blade Runner 2049, as not only is Denis Villeneuve open to potentially exploring that world again in future films, but there’s also a series of comics and graphic novels in the works, as well as an anime series set to air on Adult Swim.
As always, should there be any major updates in this story’s progress, you can be sure that CinemaBlend will be breaking such news as it is available. Meanwhile, Blade Runner 2049 is available on Digital HD, 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD; and if you’re curious to compare that film to the original Blade Runner, it’s currently available for streaming on Netflix, as well as those other home media options.
