“Blade Runner” is now viewed as a stone-cold classic of the genre but, upon its original release in 1982, Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electic Sheep?” was not a success, despite having a gigantic star in Harrison Ford at its center, and the guy who made “Alien” behind the camera. It wouldn’t be until years later, when “Blade Runner: The Final Cut” was released, that the movie’s reputation was finally cemented. All of this to say, it was tough to know what to expect from Villeneuve, the guy behind “Prisoners” and “Arrival,” in delivering a direct sequel 35 years later.

It turned out that Villeneuve was every bit the filmmaker audiences had come to suspect he was, even when working on a much larger, blockbuster scale. “Blade Runner 2049” was met with absolutely glowing reviews from critics and audiences alike. To that end, it currently boasts an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Beyond that, the movie was met with love from The Academy, as it earned several Oscar nominations. Most importantly, it won Best Cinematography, which got the legendary Roger Deakins his first Oscar, and a sorely-deserved one at that.

The main takeaway is that, from a purely artistic standpoint, the general consensus is that Villeneuve absolutely nailed it. From the cast, which includes Ford reprising his role as Deckard and Ryan Gosling as our new lead, as well as tremendous visual storytelling, to everything in between, this was an achievement in blockbuster-level filmmaking that only comes around every so often. So what was the problem? Well, the cost associated with this level of artistic accomplishment was far too great, and the business of it all had to come into play at some point.