06/07/2026
The film that upset many comic fans, earned more than one hundred million dollars worldwide and recreated a futuristic American mega-city almost entirely inside English studios. Judge Dredd was one of the most ambitious productions of the 1990s, and the story behind it is every bit as fascinating as the finished film.
Judge Dredd was released on 30 June 1995, directed by Danny Cannon and starring Sylvester Stallone as the legendary lawman of Mega-City One, where Judges act as police officers, judges and executioners. When Dredd is framed for murder by his clone brother Rico, played by Armand Assante, he is stripped of his authority and forced to fight for his own name. Based on the British comic strip that had appeared in 2000 AD since 1977, the film was made on a lavish scale, filmed almost entirely in England and earned more than one hundred and thirteen million dollars worldwide, even though it failed to win over many critics or long-time fans of the comics.
To bring Mega-City One to life, enormous futuristic sets were constructed at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, while additional locations around London were transformed into the dystopian city. The filmmakers created one of the largest studio productions ever mounted for a British comic adaptation, despite the story being set thousands of miles away in a fictional future America.
One of the biggest points of disagreement between fans and filmmakers was Judge Dredd's helmet. In the comics, Dredd's face is never fully revealed. Stallone insisted audiences needed to see him, and the helmet comes off early in the film. For many readers of 2000 AD, that single decision became the symbol of everything the adaptation had changed.
Early versions of the screenplay explored several different stories and villains before the filmmakers settled on Rico as Dredd's main adversary. The choice gave audiences a straightforward personal conflict, even though many comic readers had hoped to see some of the series' more fantastical villains brought to the screen.
One of the production's more amusing behind-the-scenes stories emerged when artist Ron Smith drew the official comic adaptation. Concerned about likeness rights, representatives for Sylvester Stallone reportedly warned that reproducing the actor's face too closely could create legal complications. Smith's solution was simple: he drew Judge Dredd to resemble Arnold Schwarzenegger instead. The official comic adaptation of a Sylvester Stallone film ended up looking remarkably like Hollywood's other great action star.
