Dennis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 is probably the most eagerly awaited film this year, and there’s a lot of pressure one the French-Canadian movie director. Development of a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) began in 1999 – that’s nearly two decades in the oven! Scott’s piece isn’t just a masterpiece, but widely regarded as a watershed in the history of cinema, and the first movie to embrace post-modern aesthetics.

The sequel is described as a neo-noir science-fiction, and it will feature the Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford (who also starred in the original) plus the Canadian actor Ryan Gosling. It tells the story of a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, who discovers “a dark secret that could bring an end to humanity”. The discovery leads him to Rick Deckard, a former blade runner who disappeared three decades earlier (Ford’s character, naturally aged!!!).

The trailer looks indeed very promising. Villeneuve has retained the dark post-modern looks of the original, with post-apocalyptic settings contrasted against colourful visions and attire, plus eerie humanoid figures. There will be action, but the elegant sci-fi feel nostalgic of a functional earth will also be preserved. it seems. But will Villeneuve succeed at creating a dirty twist to the sci-fi masterpiece, or will be slip into the predictable action movie platitudes?

The release date as well as the duration of the movie have finally been announced this week. The movie will run at 152 minutes (more than two hours and a half) it will be released globally October 6, 2017, in 2D, 3D and IMAX.