Nowadays, MGM is busy in filming new installment of RoboCop and according to reports, it has contacted District 9 director Neill Blomkamp for this. The title of this new installment is RoboCop Returns and Michael Miner and Ed Neumeier are acting as the writers.
The script written by Miner and Neumeier will be re-written by “Terminator” co-writer Justin Rhodes. Peter Weller starred as a wounded cop in the original and was assigned a task to wipe out crime. But this time MGM has adopted the concept of Jose Padilha. Even though Joe Kinnaman starred in the previous movie which didn’t do well domestically, it was still able to earn $240 million. In the new version of the movie, the anarchy reign seems to end with the return of RoboCop.
Blomkamp is a fan of the original movie whose “District 9” was nominated four times for the Oscar and earned $210 million worldwide. After that, he directed a couple of successful science fiction films like Chappie and Elysium.
From the last couple of years, Blomkamp was busy building Oats Studios in Vancouver. And at that studio, he converted his short script to short movies. Now Blomkamp has given the chance to redirect RoboCop using the storyline of the original movie. In past, he has directed films themed on exclusion and immigration while RoboCop which is made in the Raegan era has posed a different challenge for Blomkamp but he looks ready for it.
While giving an interview to Deadline, Blomkamp said that as a kid the original has a very deep impact on me. In the sci-fi catalog, that movie would still remain classic at the end of 20th century, he further added. He said that he would try his best achieve close to that when he will make the sequel.
Making sequel like the original is my goal, the district 9 director said. He further said that what he was connected to as a kid has evolved in him a lot. Three things that come into his mind while thinking about the original are Reaganomics, materialism, and consumerism, he added. And with the passage of time, the only thing matters to him now is identity and search for identity, the director continued.
He further said that any story can work in any period of time if there is a human component available. The best thing about RoboCop is that human connection is very important to understand the story of the movie. What makes me sign for the movie is the character of it who has lost its identity and people are benefiting from him and a series of events then recall the memory, he added.
The other thing that makes me sign for the movie is to get a chance to work with Justin Rhodes. He added some awesome elements to the sequel which I would love to watch, Blomkamp continued.
The original was nominated 3 times for the Oscar and also won one for Best Sound Effects Editing. The movie earned $50 million worldwide. Despite all this success and even Miner and Neumeier had written a decent sequel, there were many other reasons that the sequel didn’t happen.
While giving an interview to Deadline, Neumeier said that Paul Verhoeven wasn’t interested in making the sequel at that time and then writers strike occurred in 1988 which forced both of them to leave, he added. After that, Frank Miller and Irvin Kershner were brought to write the sequel.
The sequel saga closed when Jon Glickman, the president of MGM called him. He was then assigned a duty to write material for the studio. When Trump was about to took over as the president of the United States, he called me and said did your sequel script actually predicted that a reality star would take part in the elections and win?
Neumeier said that after that conversation he wrote a draft then gave an interview in Barbados. Neil Blomkamp was the only one who read that draft and that’s what convinced him to sign for the RoboCop Returns, Neumeier added.