RoboCop returns with District 9 director Neil Blomkamp to helm reboot; original writers also on board

RoboCop is coming back. Again.Deadline reports MGM is developing the sequel RoboCop Returns with District 9 and Elysium filmmaker Neill Blomkamp to direct. The film will be a sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 original about a cyborg police officer in a crime-ridden Detroit. It’s to be based on a never-made spec script by the 1987 film’s writers, Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner.[caption id="attachment_4727461" align="alignnone" width="825"]

Neil Blomkamp (L) will direct the RoboCop reboot. Image via Twitter[/caption]Blomkamp confesses he was a big fan of RoboCop as a kid. “I loved it then and it remains a classic in the end of 20th Century sci-fi catalog, with real meaning under the surface," he told Deadline. "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."Two other sequels followed, in 1990 and 1993. MGM attempted a $100-million RoboCop reboot in 2014, starring Joel Kinnaman. It failed to kickstart the franchise, with $58.6 million in ticket sales in the US and Canada, though it fared better at the overseas box office with $184.1 million.With inputs from The Associated Press