Anyone hoping to see what Neill Blomkamp, the director behind such R-rated sci-fi flicks as DISTRICT 9 and ELYSIUM, would bring to the upcoming ROBOCOP RETURNS will, unfortunately, have to put those hopes somewhere else, as the director is no longer attached to the project. Blomkamp is currently at work on an original horror/thriller, but with MGM wanting to get the project going that created a scheduling conflict that forced Blomkamp to have to step away from the project.
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“I am shooting new horror/thriller and MGM can’t wait/ need to shoot Robocop now,” he wrote in a social media post late last night (or early morning, depending on where you’re from). “Excited to watch it in theaters with other fans. N”
Blomkamp was confirmed for the project in July of last year, and he was set to direct a new entry in the series from a script by Justin Rhodes (TERMINATOR: DARK FATE), who was, in turn, adapting an idea from original series writers, Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner. Of the project, Neumeier (who is on RETURNS as a producer) said in January that Blomkamp "really really wants to make a good RoboCop movie, " and one that "should be the proper Verhoeven [Paul Verhoeven] if Verhoeven had directed a movie right after RoboCop."
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When he first signed on Blomkamp issued a statement saying the first movie had a "massive effect on him as a kid." That was evident whenever he spoke about the project, saying that he would be bringing the original suit back for the new movie and that if anyone should pay the title hero of Alex Murphy, the Detroit cop turned into a robocop after a life-threatening injury, he said it should be the original star, Peter Weller.
For Blomkamp, this isn't the first time he's not been able to bring to life a new sequel in a classic sci-fi franchise, with his entry in the ALIEN franchise eventually scrapped after tons of development. There's concept art out there for Blomkamp's scrapped ALIEN movie, featuring the return of star Sigourney Weaver. In 2015 Blomkamp said the movie, titled ALIEN: AWAKENING, would be his next project, but it was eventually shelved as director Ridley Scott began work on his own new entry, ALIEN: COVENANT, which was met with so-so reviews and so-so audience turnout in 2017.
I was anxious to see what Blomkamp would've brought to the table to ROBOCOP, which could've played on the current political matters and recalled the greatness of the first 1987 movie. It's unfortunate we won't be able to see what his take will look like as MGM starts hunting for a new director, and while he's busy on his own projects and working on shorts for his Oats Studios, I hope he gets a chance to lend his voice to a similar project down the line. Hell, maybe Disney will finally let him get back to work on that ALIEN movie of his.