LOS ANGELES, July 12 — MGM Studios has announced that the South African director and sci-fi specialist has been chosen to revive the RoboCop franchise on the big screen. Neill Blomkamp will be joined by screenwriter Justin Rhodes, who co-wrote the upcoming Terminator movie.
Not much is yet known about this new movie, called RoboCop Returns. According to early rumors, the picture is envisaged as a sequel to the 1987 original directed by Paul Verhoeven.
Thirty years down the line, Neill Blomkamp is taking the helm of the franchise, while hoping to help fans of the original forget the disastrous 2014 remake of the sci-fi hit from Brazilian director, José Padilha (Narcos, Elite Squad).
The South African director—who rose to prominence in 2009 with his debut feature film, District 9—will be working with a script by Justin Rhodes, who also co-wrote the forthcoming Terminator movie currently being filmed by Tim Miller with the franchise’s original stars, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton.
RoboCop—the first major Hollywood production from the Dutch director, Paul Verhoeven—was critical of the economic liberalism and corporate greed of America in the Reagan era. The film centers on a police officer called Alex J. Murphy who is transformed into a superhuman cyborg to fight crime in Detroit. — AFP-Relaxnews
