So with this news is MGM saying the recent Robocop was a big old dud? Why, that's just crazy talk. Obviously, the Joel Kinnaman-led reboot from a few years ago was no way to revitalize the franchise built on Paul Verhoeven's 1987 classic, one of the best pure pieces of satire you'll find on the big screen. Earlier this year we heard from original Robocop writer Ed Neumeier that he and co-writer Michael Miner were working on a new film that would bring the hero back, and he wasn't lying. It's happening, and Neill Blomkamp is attached, too.
Blomkamp will direct Robocop Returns, which is based on a decades old script by Neumeier and Miner. Justin Rhodes, of the upcoming Terminator reboot, will give the script a fresh rewrite. This must feel pretty good to Blomkamp, who gets a shot at another iconic franchise after his Alien sequel went nowhere. Deadline describes the plot as “anarchy reigns and the fate of Detroit hangs in the balance as RoboCop makes his triumphant return to fight crime and corruption.”
In case it hasn't been made clear, this is an old script that was originally intended as a sequel to Verhoeven's film, and that's what the plan is now. The terrible Robocop sequels and reboot that followed are being ignored, as they probably should be. Neumeier explains in great detail why their script wasn't used back in the first place...
“Verhoeven felt at the time that making one would be de classe and he wasn’t interested in the politics of a sequel. Then, the writers strike came along in 1988 and we were force majeured off the project. They brought in Frank Miller on a waiver. He wrote a draft and then another with Walon Green, and it got made by Irvin Kershner, who directed The Empire Strikes Back. I went off and did Starship Troopers with Paul.”
He continues that what it really boiled down to was the election of Donald Trump, because in the end all things circle back to Trump...
“Right when Trump was about to be elected president he called me and said, ‘Did you actually predict in your sequel script that a reality star would run for president and win?’ We had. 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."
The original Robocop earned three Oscar nominations, including a win for Best Sound Editing. I don't know if that's in this new movie's future, but if Blomkamp is a director more than capable of reaching those heights.
