The last attempt at rebooting the RoboCop franchise didn't go particularly well, but that hasn't dissuaded others from trying to bring back the character. District 9's Neill Blomkamp is currently working on a brand new RoboCop movie, though when I say new, what I really mean is, something that will closely resemble the 80s action classic. It seems that Blomkamp's script isn't just designed to have a story that follows the original RoboCop, but it's also supposed to feel like the original as well. According to producer Ed Neumeier...
Ah, so they are, Neill Blomkamp and his screenwriter Justin Rhodes have done a pass on the script we were writing on and they’re doing another one. It is a slightly different concept in some ways than we were originally doing, Neill wants to do. I don’t want to talk too much about it or somebody will call me and tell me to shut up, but we’re hopeful and I think Neill really really wants to make a good RoboCop movie. His idea is that it should be the proper Verhoeven [Paul Verhoeven] if Verhoeven had directed a movie right after RoboCop I think that’s what he is trying to achieve and I hope he does. We’ll see what happens next.
The new project is currently titled RoboCop Returns and it looks to be coming to the screen with the same strategy as the recent Halloween sequel, as it will apparently be a direct sequel to the original 1987 RoboCop, but one that will not acknowledge the fact that said movie had two sequels already.
Based on what producer Ed Neumeier tells HN Entertainment, the goal of the new film is to continue both the story and the tone of the project as director Neill Blomkamp and his co-writer want to make the movie feel like it's the RoboCop sequel original director Paul Verhoeven would have made if he had been convinced to return to make either of the sequels that did happen.
A recent attempt at rebooting RoboCop was made but the film flopped and no franchise was built. It seems now that the idea, as has often been the case in recent years, is to try to go back to what worked before. Since only the original RoboCop is what you would call a hit, that means trying to capture as much of that film as possible.
Of course, to do that properly, it's likely going to require getting Peter Weller to return to reprise his role of the part-man, part-machine, all-cop. According to Ed Neumeier there is still a hope that could happen, though it's been reported that Weller is not interested.
While a followup to the original RoboCop that actually feels like the original RoboCop is certainly a fantastic idea, it remains to be seen just how easy that is to do. We'll have to wait and see if RoboCop, does in fact, return.
