2000 AD Online Forum

General Chat => Film & TV => Topic started by: JOE SOAP on 11 July, 2018, 06:14:03 PM

Title: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 11 July, 2018, 06:14:03 PM
Neill Blomkamp To Direct New 'RoboCop' For MGM; Justin Rhodes Rewriting Sequel Script By Creators Ed Neumeier & Michael Miner (https://deadline.com/2018/07/robocop-neill-blomkamp-directing-robocop-returns-justin-rhodes-ed-neumeier-michael-miner-mgm-1202424639/)

MGM is developing a new installment of RoboCop and has set District 9 director Neill Blomkamp to helm the picture, which is titled RoboCop Returns. The studio hopes to revive a franchise that began with the Paul Verhoeven-directed satirical sci-fi action thriller that Orion released in 1987. Original writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner are producing and exec producing, respectively. Justin Rhodes, who co-wrote the Terminator film that Tim Miller is shooting, will rewrite the script that Neumeier and Miner wrote years ago as a planned sequel to Verhoeven's hit, an installment that never happened. That duo is creatively involved in moving forward their creation for the first time since the original.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 July, 2018, 07:49:06 PM

Will this one be about the revenge of his brother, Rocko?

Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Colin YNWA on 11 July, 2018, 08:17:14 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 11 July, 2018, 07:49:06 PM

Will this one be about the revenge of his brother, Rocko?

Christ I hope no one writes a book about Rocko...
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 July, 2018, 08:28:28 PM

And certainly not three books...

Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 July, 2018, 08:29:29 PM
God. If there was ever a director who might make me feel kindly disposed towards a new Robocop movie, it's Blomkamp. It's got his sensibilities written all over it. I can't believe I didn't see that before.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: SIP on 11 July, 2018, 08:54:05 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 July, 2018, 08:29:29 PM
God. If there was ever a director who might make me feel kindly disposed towards a new Robocop movie, it's Blomkamp. It's got his sensibilities written all over it. I can't believe I didn't see that before.

Have you seen "Chappie"?!

He was on a downhill trajectory from District 9. Can't say I'm optimistic.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: IAMTHESYSTEM on 11 July, 2018, 08:59:59 PM
I hope they've got a better script than the last one which is pretty rank. With Trump and the shenanigans of the 1%, you'd think they couldn't miss, but Hollywood might be mindful of not playing that card too much since they qualify as overclass. Will they call on Karl Urban since he knows how to act with a partially covered face?
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 11 July, 2018, 09:00:35 PM

I liked Chappie, it was like Wall-E with swears.

Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 July, 2018, 09:05:49 PM
Quote from: SIP on 11 July, 2018, 08:54:05 PM
Have you seen "Chappie"?!

No, but what Elysium convinced me of is that he's a potentially brilliant director in dire need of a great script. If there's a spark of what Neumeier and Miner brought to the first movie left in this screenplay, it might be the one.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 11 July, 2018, 09:07:03 PM
I presume it's a re-write of The Corporate Wars – written for Verhoeven to direct back in late 87 before the writer's strike. It certainly fits with the premise of RoboCop getting killed in the first scene and resurrected 25 years later in future Detroit.

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06e062459f0fb20bc981fa8f8cb2e08c86abd35214431309b4763a70445c1700.jpg?w=800&h=1131)
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 11 July, 2018, 09:27:11 PM
Murphy levelled up on his law enforcement directives.

(https://i.imgur.com/kSMytJo.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/YIBJE4I.png)
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: SIP on 11 July, 2018, 10:18:41 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 11 July, 2018, 09:05:49 PM
Quote from: SIP on 11 July, 2018, 08:54:05 PM
Have you seen "Chappie"?!

No, but what Elysium convinced me of is that he's a potentially brilliant director in dire need of a great script. If there's a spark of what Neumeier and Miner brought to the first movie left in this screenplay, it might be the one.

That's probably a fair point......he's got a good eye for the aesthetic at least. Maybe it has some promise.

As for Chappie, it was definitely one of the poorest films I've seen in the last 20 years.....just complete nonsense with mile wide plot holes and an incredibly irritating cast.

Wall-e was a great film, possibly even Michael Crawford's best.....after Condor man of course.

Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Rusty on 12 July, 2018, 06:36:33 PM
Blomkamp has me both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. He's good with the visual side of things, but from his latest efforts (I've not seen Chappie and refuse to as it looks total shite to begin with) he seems to be showing a distinct lack of imagination even in the thing he's seemingly good at. His films all have that same overly depressing and 'brown' look. Ironically, that could work for a Robocop film, but it's more down to whoever is writing the script and the acting talent for this one. I mean, if he's writing it, and we see that South African guy (Sharlto Copley) again (imagine him as Robocop with a broad accent), I think it's more or less guaranteed to be shite.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: dweezil2 on 12 July, 2018, 07:45:02 PM
Just to weigh in, I thought Elysium was a derivative bore fest.
I haven't really seen anything that has impressed me from Blomkamp since the admittedly excellent District 9.
Even his recent internet shorts left me cold.
He has a keen visual eye and flair for sure, but nothing that translates into an interesting movie, for me at least.

Still, it can't be any worse than the steaming turd that was the 2014 reboot movie, can it?
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 12 July, 2018, 09:23:56 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 12 July, 2018, 07:45:02 PM
He has a keen visual eye and flair for sure, but nothing that translates into an interesting movie, for me at least.

Hence the suggestion that he's in desperate need of a good screenplay...
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: sheridan on 12 July, 2018, 09:27:15 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 12 July, 2018, 07:45:02 PM
Just to weigh in, I thought Elysium was a derivative bore fest.
I haven't really seen anything that has impressed me from Blomkamp since the admittedly excellent District 9.
Even his recent internet shorts left me cold.
He has a keen visual eye and flair for sure, but nothing that translates into an interesting movie, for me at least.

Still, it can't be any worse than the steaming turd that was the 2014 reboot movie, can it?

Only saw the remake once, but I seem to remember it had one good thing about it (honestly can't remember what it was - I do know it didn't have the adverts and satire that characterised the real film).
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: sheridan on 12 July, 2018, 09:28:38 PM
Quote from: SIP on 11 July, 2018, 10:18:41 PM
Wall-e was a great film, possibly even Michael Crawford's best.....after Condor man of course.


I couldn't work out what that sentence meant - never realised it was Michael Crawford in the archie footage!
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: SIP on 12 July, 2018, 11:19:19 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 12 July, 2018, 09:28:38 PM
Quote from: SIP on 11 July, 2018, 10:18:41 PM
Wall-e was a great film, possibly even Michael Crawford's best.....after Condor man of course.


I couldn't work out what that sentence meant - never realised it was Michael Crawford in the archie footage!

Yeah.....possibly was a slightly obscure reference on reflection!
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 12 July, 2018, 11:51:28 PM
Quote from: SIP on 12 July, 2018, 11:19:19 PMYeah.....possibly was a slightly obscure reference on reflection!

The best kind.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Keef Monkey on 13 July, 2018, 10:28:33 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 12 July, 2018, 09:27:15 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 12 July, 2018, 07:45:02 PM
Just to weigh in, I thought Elysium was a derivative bore fest.
I haven't really seen anything that has impressed me from Blomkamp since the admittedly excellent District 9.
Even his recent internet shorts left me cold.
He has a keen visual eye and flair for sure, but nothing that translates into an interesting movie, for me at least.

Still, it can't be any worse than the steaming turd that was the 2014 reboot movie, can it?

Only saw the remake once, but I seem to remember it had one good thing about it (honestly can't remember what it was - I do know it didn't have the adverts and satire that characterised the real film).

I do remember finding the scene where he demands they remove the augmentations really eerie. The way they then take everything away and show him how little of him that's left is actually human is pretty disturbing and probably more effective at communicating that than anything that happened in the original.

Other than that I sort of thought it was okay-ish, but seem to recall being annoyed with how it ended ([spoiler]unless I'd zoned out I don't remember there being any clever 'Dick, you're fired!' style way of him getting over his 'don't arrest an OCP employee' directive, he just sort of overcame it by force of will? Or something. I may have not paid enough attention but that part didn't click with me in the remake and certainly didn't have the original's fist-pumping YAAAAASSS vibe)[/spoiler].

Funnily enough, when I first saw District 9 I remember mentioning to a friends that in terms of the tone and splatter (they got away with a surprising amount of splatter!) it was really reminiscent of Robocop and the like. If you'd have told me then that Blomkamp's next movie would be a Robocop sequel I would have been super pumped for it, but nothing else he's done has really impressed.

I also really don't like this idea of making sequels that ignore the other sequels, I didn't want to see Alien 3 written out of continuity and by the same token don't want to see Robocop 2 discarded. That's admittedly me being uptight, but in my mind I'd never see these sequels as canon, and would struggle to see them as anything other than fan fiction or (shudder) one of those Marvel alternate universe things that they do in the comics all the time that just muddy everything up.

I can't say that without admitting wholeheartedly that I'm really excited for this years' Halloween movie which is doing exactly that, so I guess it depends on the quality of the sequels being written off (Halloween 3 is the only sequel I really liked, and that wasn't even set in the same universe so I'm all good with them hitting reset on that one).
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: sheridan on 13 July, 2018, 01:12:25 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 July, 2018, 10:28:33 AM

I also really don't like this idea of making sequels that ignore the other sequels, I didn't want to see Alien 3 written out of continuity and by the same token don't want to see Robocop 2 discarded. That's admittedly me being uptight, but in my mind I'd never see these sequels as canon, and would struggle to see them as anything other than fan fiction or (shudder) one of those Marvel alternate universe things that they do in the comics all the time that just muddy everything up.

Same here - see Superman Returns (I think it was called - the one with Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, who we probably won't be seeing much from any more) and the reimagined Star Trek films (I like them as much as the older ones, but why take something with however-many decades of continuity and then immediately ignore it all?)
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: GrudgeJohnDeed on 13 July, 2018, 02:07:58 PM
Funny that Blomkamp didn't mention Dredd!

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 July, 2018, 10:28:33 AM
I can't say that without admitting wholeheartedly that I'm really excited for this years' Halloween movie which is doing exactly that, so I guess it depends on the quality of the sequels being written off (Halloween 3 is the only sequel I really liked, and that wasn't even set in the same universe so I'm all good with them hitting reset on that one).

Yeah the quality of the disregarded films is a big part of it I think, I'd be fine with a proper, big-budget 'Starship Troopers 2' for example, that ignores all those terrible straight-to-video sequels. I'm in the exact same boat as you with Halloween in that 1 and 3 are the only ones I like, I'm still a little worried about the direction they're taking it in with the new one, but I could be wrong.

With Alien 3 though it's odd for me, I rather like it (especially the director's cut) but I must admit a sequel where the burgeoning family unit of Ripley, Hicks, Newt and Bishop survive and have to live in a post-Aliens world is super interesting to me and kinda what I had hoped Alien 3 had been back then. Maybe 3 was a horrifying dream in the Sulaco escape pod? However they choose (or don't choose) to explain it, I think I'd still be able to watch and enjoy 3, although apparently the idea was canned anyway.

A new Robocop sequel should of course ignore Robocop 3 too :D
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 July, 2018, 04:44:28 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 July, 2018, 10:28:33 AMI also really don't like this idea of making sequels that ignore the other sequels, I didn't want to see Alien 3 written out of continuity and by the same token don't want to see Robocop 2 discarded. That's admittedly me being uptight, but in my mind I'd never see these sequels as canon, and would struggle to see them as anything other than fan fiction or (shudder) one of those Marvel alternate universe things that they do in the comics all the time that just muddy everything up.

In this particular case it doesn't need to and may not ret-con anything. If they're going on the same premise as the unmade sequel script, it's set decades after the original where RoboCop's situation and environment have completely changed. You could theoretically choose to include or disregard any other sequels or TV series. As it's also a script initially drafted by the creators before any other sequels were being developed, it qualifies as a little more than fan-fiction, but we shall see how much it will change from where it was in 1988 as a very rough first draft to being contemporised.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: blackmocco on 13 July, 2018, 05:46:16 PM
I love Chappie. You can all go to Hell.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: radiator on 13 July, 2018, 06:23:15 PM
QuoteWith Alien 3 though it's odd for me, I rather like it (especially the director's cut) but I must admit a sequel where the burgeoning family unit of Ripley, Hicks, Newt and Bishop survive and have to live in a post-Aliens world is super interesting to me and kinda what I had hoped Alien 3 had been back then.

You're in luck:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17565326/william-gibson-alien-3-unfilmed-script-dark-horse-comics-adaptation (https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17565326/william-gibson-alien-3-unfilmed-script-dark-horse-comics-adaptation)
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 July, 2018, 06:26:52 PM
Quote from: blackmocco on 13 July, 2018, 05:46:16 PM
I love Chappie. You can all go to Hell.

That's where Chappie is.

Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: radiator on 13 July, 2018, 06:27:43 PM
Also - I like Alien 3 too, especially the Assembly Cut. It's a flawed film for sure and has some really bad visual effects, but I love how nihilistic and bleak it is, I love the cast, I love how it completely refuses to try and one-up Aliens and does it's own thing and let's be honest, it has more iconic visuals and moments than all of the Aliens-related movies since combined.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 13 July, 2018, 06:28:50 PM

Anyone who doesn't accept that Alien 3 should have a wooden planet deserves Prometheus.

Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: GrudgeJohnDeed on 13 July, 2018, 09:44:52 PM
Quote from: radiator on 13 July, 2018, 06:23:15 PM
You're in luck:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17565326/william-gibson-alien-3-unfilmed-script-dark-horse-comics-adaptation (https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17565326/william-gibson-alien-3-unfilmed-script-dark-horse-comics-adaptation)

Oh cool, will keep an eye on that thanks. I have read Aliens comics before that continued the story before they realised what Alien 3 did to the characters, and some of them were pretty good. Some of these books had the names changed too, presumably Alien 3 had come out by then. Bicks, Bipley and Bewt had survived the Badley's Bope disaster that kind of thing

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 13 July, 2018, 06:28:50 PM

Anyone who doesn't accept that Alien 3 should have a wooden planet deserves Prometheus.


heh I always wondered how that would've worked
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Professor Bear on 14 July, 2018, 12:15:21 AM
This just sounds like a rip-off of Robocop: Alpha Commando.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: radiator on 14 July, 2018, 02:04:33 AM
Gibson's script for Alien 3 has always intrigued me, though it's completely insane and would have been unfilmable at the time.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: sheridan on 14 July, 2018, 11:54:46 AM
Quote from: GrudgeJohnDeed on 13 July, 2018, 09:44:52 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 13 July, 2018, 06:28:50 PM
Anyone who doesn't accept that Alien 3 should have a wooden planet deserves Prometheus.

heh I always wondered how that would've worked


I've always imagined it would have been not dissimilar to the library world in (far future) Durham Red.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Tiplodocus on 15 July, 2018, 12:26:01 AM
This idea that just because the unfilmed Alien 3 had a wooden planet and therefore would have been brilliant really confuses me.

It's just an idea (one I also happen to think is shite). It isn't a story. It isn't a script. It's one fecking idea and therefore can not be used to judge quality of mythical final product.

So many of you should know that.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: JOE SOAP on 15 July, 2018, 02:35:27 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 15 July, 2018, 12:26:01 AM
This idea that just because the unfilmed Alien 3 had a wooden planet and therefore would have been brilliant really confuses me.

It's just an idea (one I also happen to think is shite). It isn't a story. It isn't a script. It's one fecking idea and therefore can not be used to judge quality of mythical final product.

So many of you should know that.


I read the script; saw the concept art. I liked it. That's all I can add.

http://vincentwardfilms.com/project/concepts/alien-3/unrequited-visio/

(https://i.imgur.com/w3hM65m.jpg)
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: M.I.K. on 15 July, 2018, 12:13:58 PM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 15 July, 2018, 12:26:01 AM
This idea that just because the unfilmed Alien 3 had a wooden planet and therefore would have been brilliant really confuses me.

It's just an idea (one I also happen to think is shite). It isn't a story. It isn't a script. It's one fecking idea and therefore can not be used to judge quality of mythical final product.

You'll never get to meet any Clangers with that kind of Professor Yaffley attitude.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: sheridan on 15 July, 2018, 02:26:40 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 15 July, 2018, 02:35:27 AM
I read the script; saw the concept art. I liked it. That's all I can add.

http://vincentwardfilms.com/project/concepts/alien-3/unrequited-visio/

Thanks for posting that - never seen the production art before.
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: GrudgeJohnDeed on 15 July, 2018, 03:39:22 PM
It's definitely an interesting idea, and would cool visually. With a wooden planet it's possible the Alien could go absolutely anywhere it wanted to, when it wanted to too. Wooden floors, walls, ceilings and doors would surely pose no match for one of those buggers, and once it figured that out I imagine it would constantly be brute-forcing its way to those lovely Monk brains
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Mardroid on 16 July, 2018, 02:56:01 PM
All efforts to repel it fail... then right at the end, just before it chomps into Ripley's head (possibly still bald in this version )it dies of deeply embedded splinters.
🤣
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: IAMTHESYSTEM on 16 August, 2019, 11:19:39 AM
It looks like Neil Blomkamp is off the Robocop project. Mr H thinks it's over.

  https://youtu.be/ef98jJox1Fw
Title: Re: RoboCop Returns
Post by: Rately on 04 September, 2019, 02:58:57 PM
If he had a great script, and it was as much a satire as the original, Blomkamp could have been a brilliant choice.

Wonder what Paul Verhoeven is up to these days?