LOS ANGELES: Nearly 30 years after making the sci-fi cult classic “Blade Runner,” British director Ridley Scott has agreed to direct a new installment, the producers said Thursday.

The new “Blade Runner,” produced by Alcon Entertainment, will not be a remake but rather a follow-up or a prequel to the original. Scott has yet to decide between the two options, the company said in a statement.

“It would be a gross understatement to say that we are elated Ridley Scott will shepherd this iconic story into a new, exciting direction,” said producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson.

“We are huge fans of Ridley's and of the original 'Blade Runner.' This is once in a lifetime project for us,” they added.

No casting decisions have been made as of yet, and no release date has been fixed.

“Blade Runner” - which starred Harrison Ford as a police officer forced out of retirement to hunt for humanoid robots in Los Angeles in 2019 - debuted in US theaters in 1982.

The film originally opened to disappointing box office sales, but over time it became a cult classic.

Three years after “Alien,” it solidified Scott as a major talent in the science-fiction genre.

The 73-year-old director and producer last year directed “Robin Hood,” and just wrapped up “Prometheus” with Charlize Theron, which will come out in 2012.