Make the damn thing. I don't care anymore. I'm really disappointed with Hollywood's present mode of production. It's seems to me they choose to make a good movie or a profitable one, and that's just a death sentence in the long run. My advice would be they simple they let a single person write the script. That alone would prevent the movie from totally sucking.
I hope the writer understands that. The sequel or prequel should be about love. Not romantic love, but love itself.
Ridley Scott was once a hell of a director, and he still can paint a pretty picture like few others, but he sold out long ago. I expect nothing from this endeavor except that Scott make himself and a few others a little bit richer. If it even accomplishes that.
I would think that if I had all the money I needed, I'd say: "Fuck it, I'm just doing it for me now." Why not leave a legacy of your artistic potential? IMHO Blade Runner should be left alone. Unless Scott had something that has been eating at him for years, something that he wanted to accomplish with a new movie. But I think you are right. It doesn't look like that.
If you haven't watched in years you should, it's a smart distopian fantasy and old enough that a remake might have some interesting ground to tread. Hell it can't be worse then the last 3 star wars flicks, can it?
Oh, they are certainly saying something. SciFi is a vehicle for social engineering. StarTrek (tng and later), for example, are constantly preaching; it is so annoying. Others impart existential angst (e.g. the civilization of The Alien). And nearly all -- even the supposedly utopian visions such as StarTrek's -- insist that the future of mankind is a Intergalactic-Military-Junta and one must wear a color-coded uniform.. I want to see someone actually do justice to Frank Herbert's Dune. (I am not holding my breath; that book is clearly subversive in context of contemporary (geo-)political realities).