Filmmakers Martin Scorcese and Jay Cocks express interest in adapting Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? into a film, but nothing comes to fruition.[1]
Producer Herb Jaffe options a film adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but Philip K. Dick is unimpressed by the screenplay written by Jaffe's son, Robert. However, Dick allows Jaffe to renew the option to allow Robert to improve his screenplay, but they eventually allow it to lapse[1].
January 7 – Fancher completes a draft for the film.[1]
February 21 – Ridley Scott officially signs on as director of the film.[1]
Late February – CBS Films drops out of production due to a rising projected budget.[1]
April –
Scott begins working with Fancher on a rewrite of the script, a process that last about eight months.[1]
Associate producer Ivor Powell and production manager John W. Rogers arrange for Syd Mead to meet with Scott. Mead signs on as the film's "visual futurist."[1]
July – While performing rewrites with Fancher, Scott suggests Deckard be given a new career title. After searching his home library Fancher finds a copy of Blade Runner (a movie) (itself initially a proposed film adaptation of The Bladerunner) and suggests the term "Blade Runner." Scott welcomes the idea and suggests it could also be the title of the script, so the rights are purchased for the title of Blade Runner. Scott subsequently considers the title Gotham City, but this is vetoed by Batman co-creator Bob Kane, whose comics are set in Gotham City.[1]
July 24 – A draft for Blade Runner is completed.[1]
Late February – The film is screened for a group of industry workers in Los Angeles, California. Another closed screening takes place in Van Nuys, California.[1]
March –
Landscapes for the "happy ending" are filmed in Moab, Utah, directed by Haber.[1]
Rawlings leaves post-production due to scheduling conflicts.[1]
March 5 – A sneak preview of the film is held in Denver, Colorado.[1]
March 6 – Another sneak preview is held in Dallas, Texas.[1]
Late March –
Shots involving Ford and Sean Young in the "happy ending" are filmed.[1]
Deeley unsuccessfully attempts to persuade Tandem to allow the film to be released without the voice-overs.[1]
April – The workprint is screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[1]
September 27 – The workprint premieres at the NuArt theater in California.[1]
Early October – Scott, alongside Arick and producer Mimi Polk, meet with Warner Bros. executives Barry Reardon and Peter Gardiner to discuss Scott's concerns with the workprint being touted as a "director's cut," despite being an incomplete version of the film. He proposes the production of an actual director's cut, to which Reardon agrees.[1]
October 18 – The workprint opens at the Castro theater.[1]
November–December – Arick outlines Scott's wishes for the Director's Cut of Blade Runner.[1]
January – Arick submits Scott's requests to Warner Bros.[1]
New Line Home Video releases the film on home video.[1]
August – Arick and Scott learn that Warner Bros. planned on releasing the Director's Cut without Scott's wish of including the unicorn dream, due to the original negatives being lost. Due to this, Scott threatens to publicly disown the version if it is released in such a state.[1]
August 8 – All prior versions of the film are withdrawn from circulation to drive focus to the impending Director's Cut.[1]
September 4 – Arick submits the completed Director's Cut to Warner Bros. However, many of Scott's suggestions are not incorporated because of time constraints, though his primary stipulation, the unicorn dream, is included through the use of an outtake.[1]
September 11 – The Director's Cut is released in the United States to 58 theaters.[1]
A rough cut of a version of the film dubbed the Definitive Cut is completed.[1]
Seven months into production of the Definitive Cut and special edition DVD, the project is canceled due to complications regarding the film's distribution rights.[1]
April 13 – The greenscreen shoot for the Final Cut is held to digitally replace stunt double Lee Pulford with Joanna Cassidy in Zhora's death scene and to fix lip-sync issues in the Abdul Ben Hassan scene by filming Harrison Ford's son Ben Ford reciting Deckard's dialogue in the scene, then digitally replace Harrison's mouth and chin with Ben's.[1]
July 27 – A panel promoting the Final Cut is presented at San Diego Comic-Con.[1]
August 3 – The Final Cut is screened for Ridley Scott, who officially approves it.[1]
September 1 – The Final Cut premieres at the Venice Film Festival.[1]
October 5 – The Final Cut is released theatrically in Los Angeles and New York.[1]
The second edition of Future Noir is published.[1]
January 19 – The eighth issue of Dust to Dust is published.
January 26 – The nineteenth issue of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is published.
March 3 – Alcon Entertainment confirms they are in final discussions to obtain the film rights of the Blade Runner franchise, allowing them to make additional productions.[1]
Ridley Scott and Hampton Fancher begin working on ideas for a sequel to Blade Runner.[2]
June 1 – The twenty-third issue of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is published.
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