Neill Blomkamp to direct MGM's RoboCop sequel: 'RoboCop Returns'
MGM announced a new RoboCop installment is in the works and it will be written by 2019's Terminator co-scribe Justin Rhodes and directed by District 9’s Neill Blomkamp.
Like it or not, RoboCop Returns is officially a thing.
After two lackluster sequels and 2014’s forgettable reboot, MGM hopes to revitalize a brand of greed, power, corruption, identity, and authoritarianism that's synonymous with Paul Verhoeven's unforgettable science-fiction thrill-fest, RoboCop. Keyword hope.
According to Deadline, MGM has already titled the next installment RoboCop Returns, which indicates Blomkamp's film will be a direct sequel to Verhoeven's 1987 film. However if the title much less the idea of another RoboCop installment doesn't do much for you, it's unlikely the film’s logline will either:
❝Anarchy reigns and the fate of Detroit hangs in the balance as RoboCop makes his triumphant return to fight crime and corruption.❞
While "corruption" is not exactly an original thematic element, it certainly strikes a chord based on today's political climate. But perhaps the biggest takeaway here is that RoboCop Returns will be based on spec script from a RoboCop sequel written by 1987's original co-writers, Michael Miner and Ed Neumeier. While it's not known just how much or little Rhodes will stray from Miner and Neumeier's script, this news certainly salts any skepticism over a potential monstrosity. At least it does for me at the moment.
According to Neumeier, the duo wrote a follow-up shortly after RoboCop's Oscar-nominated success but for various reasons - including the 1988 writer's strike - the planned sequel never took off. Now, it appears their script will not only see the light of day but their script actually contains a plot where a reality star runs for president!?
Neumeier shared this:
❝Right when Trump was about to be elected president [MGM president Jon Glickman] called me and said, ‘Did you actually predict in your sequel script that a reality star would run for president and win?’ We had,” Neumeier told Deadline in breaking the news. “So Mike and I wrote a draft and gave one interview in Barbados and I think the only person who read it was Neill Blomkamp, and that set this in motion.❞
I'm not expecting Blomkamp's RoboCop to supplant Verhoeven's grand entry but, at the very least, I am midly interested to see what sort of vision Miner and Newmeier had in mind and what exactly Justin Rhodes does with it.
Time will tell.
