Taika Waititi, the director behind Marvel hits Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder, is officially stepping into the world of Judge Dredd. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project is already generating serious buzz in Hollywood, with several studios keen to secure it.
Waititi will be joined by writer Drew Pearce, whose credits include The Fall Guy and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Both filmmakers are long‑time admirers of the Judge Dredd comics, and industry insiders say they’ve been looking for the right project to collaborate on for years.
The film will be produced by the rights‑holders at Rebellion Developments—Chris Kingsley, Jason Kingsley, and Ben Smith—alongside Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, Jeremy Platt, Natalie Viscuso, and Pearce himself.
Created in the late 1970s by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, Judge Dredd debuted in the pages of British comic magazine 2000 AD. Set in the sprawling Mega‑City One, Dredd serves as police officer, judge, jury, and executioner, embodying a justice system taken to dystopian extremes.
What began as a sharp satire on authority and authoritarianism grew into a phenomenon. Over 100 million Judge Dredd comics and graphic novels have been sold worldwide, making him one of Britain’s most enduring comic exports.
Hollywood’s previous attempts to bring Dredd to life have been mixed. The 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone was widely panned, while 2012’s Dredd, with Karl Urban in the helmet and a script by Alex Garland, won critical praise but failed to spawn a franchise.
Details of Waititi’s take are still under wraps, but sources indicate the new movie will lean closer to the tone and grit of the original comics—blending biting satire with dark humour and heavy world‑building. It’s being developed as a bold sci‑fi blockbuster with a modern edge, and the team behind it reportedly hopes it could open the door to a larger on‑screen Dredd universe in future films or series.
For now, one thing’s clear: Taika Waititi is preparing to give Judge Dredd another shot at cinematic justice—and this time, the law might just win.
