With his planned direct sequel to RoboCop failing to make it beyond the development stage, director Neill Blomkamp has turned his attention to another Paul Verhoeven film for his next project, with The Hollywood Reporter revealing that the District 9 filmmaker is attached to a new take on Starship Troopers for Columbia Pictures.
Rather than a remake or continuation of Verhoeven’s 1997 film, the new version – scripted by Blomkamp and his wife and District 9 and Chappie co-writer Terri Tatchell – is said to hearken back to the original source material, the Hugo Award-winning 1959 novel by author Robert A. Heinlein.
Taking place in a militaristic future society where Earth is governed by the Terran Federation, Starship Troopers follows the rise of Johnny Rico as he progresses through the ranks of the Mobile Infantry from recruit to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war against a bug-like alien species.
Starring Casper Van Dien as Johnny Rico alongside co-stars Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Ironside, Starship Troopers was a critical and commercial disappointment upon release, but subsequently earned cult classic status. It also launched a franchise that has expanded to include two low-budget straight-to-video sequels, two CG-animated features, and the fan favourite animated series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles.
