After giving up on his plans for Alien 5, District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp has now turned his attention to another classic sci-fi franchise, with the filmmaker set to direct RoboCop Returns for MGM.
The project will be based on an old script by Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, planned as a direct sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 original, which will be rewritten by Justin Rhodes, screenwriter on the new Terminator reboot.
The logline for the new film, which will have no connection to the 2014 reboot, reads: “Anarchy reigns and the fate of Detroit hangs in the balance as RoboCop makes his triumphant return to fight crime and corruption.”
“The original definitely had a massive effect on me as a kid,” Blomkamp tells Deadline. “I loved it then and it remains a classic in the end of 20th Century sci-fi catalog, with real meaning under the surface. Hopefully that is something we can get closer to in making of a sequel. That is my goal here. What I connected to as a kid has evolved over time. At first, the consumerism, materialism and Reaganomics, that ’80s theme of America on steroids, came through most strongly. But As I’ve gotten older, the part that really resonated with me is identity, and the search for identity. As long as the human component is there, a good story can work in any time period, it’s not locked into a specific place in history.”
“What’s so cool about RoboCop is that like good Westerns, sci-fi films and dramas, the human connection is really important to a story well told,” he continues. “What draws me now is someone searching for their lost identity, taken away at the hands of people who are benefiting from it, and seeing his memory jogged by events. That is most captivating. The other thing I am excited by is the chance to work again with Justin Rhodes. He has added elements that are pretty awesome, to a sequel that was set in the world of Verhoeven. This is a movie I would love to watch.”
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