Judge Dredd returns to the silver screen

'Futuristic neo-noir' action flick promised

Those of you still recovering from Sylvester Stallone's 1995 interpretation of Judge Dredd will have to wait until 2012 to see if Karl Urban can make a better hash of bringing the classic 2000 AD character to the silver screen.

Shooting on IM Global's $45m Dredd is set to kick off in South Africa later this year, and the company has just announced that Urban will be joined by Olivia Thirlby, who'll play "telepathic rookie cop" Cassandra Anderson.

IM Global teases: "Dredd takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot - if necessary.

"The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and the frenetic vision of director Peter Travis bring Dredd to life as a futuristic neo-noir action film that returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's revered comic strip."

The word on the street is that this time around, Judge Dredd's helmet will remain firmly on his head, as is only right and proper. ®