<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $30--45 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $41.5 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Dredd is a 2012 science - fiction action film directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland . It is based on the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd and its eponymous character created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra . Karl Urban stars as Judge Dredd, a law enforcer given the power of judge, jury and executioner in a vast, dystopic metropolis called Mega-City One that lies in a post-apocalyptic wasteland . Dredd and his apprentice partner, Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), are forced to bring order to a 200 - storey high - rise block of flats and deal with its resident drug lord, Ma - Ma (Lena Headey). </P> <P> Garland began writing the script in 2006, although the development of a new Judge Dredd film adaptation, unrelated to the 1995 film Judge Dredd, was not announced until December 2008 . Produced by British studio DNA Films, Dredd began principal photography, using 3D cameras throughout, in November 2010 . Filming took place on practical sets and locations in Cape Town and Johannesburg . </P>

Who plays judge dredd in the 2012 movie