Neill Blomkamp will direct “RoboCop Returns,” the fifth film in the “RoboCop” franchise, Deadline reported on Wednesday. Produced by MGM, “RoboCop Returns” will be a sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 satirical science fiction film “RoboCop.”
The cyberpunk films are centred on Detroit police officer Alex Murphy, whom a powerful corporation transforms into the cyborg Robocop after he is injured in the line of duty. Armed with enhanced abilities, Murphy battles crime in a corrupt city.
The original film was followed by Irvin Kershner’s “RoboCop 2” in 1990 and Fred Dekker’s “RoboCop 3” in 1993. The series was rebooted in 2014 with Jose Padilha’s “RoboCop,” starring Joel Kinnamen.
Blomkamp made his directorial debut in 2009 with the Oscar-nominated “District 9.” Since then, he has directed “Elysium” (2013) and “Chappie” (2015).
Blomkamp told Deadline that the original “RoboCop” had a “massive impact” on him as a child. “What I connected to as a kid has evolved over time,” he said. “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... What draws me now is someone searching for their lost identity, taken away at the hands of people who are benefiting from it, and seeing his memory jogged by events.”
The article was first published in scroll.in and is being republished under special arrangements
