Neill Blomkamp to direct RoboCop Returns which will be a sequel to the original film

While we never got a chance to see his Alien movie, it looks like Neill Blomkamp (District 9) will be directing a new RoboCop film. Exciting enough, but it seems that like the new Halloween movie, RoboCop Returns will be a sequel to the original 1987 Paul Verhoeven movie. I think that is something we were all hoping for when the 2014 remake was announced.

According to Deadline, 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 the Verhoeven film.

“Verhoeven felt at the time that making one would be de classe and he wasn’t interested in the politics of a sequel, “Neumeier told Deadline. “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 Startship Troopers with Paul.”

“The original definitely had a massive effect on me as a kid,” Blomkamp told Deadline. “I loved it then and it remains a classic in the end of 20th Century sci-fi catalog, with real meaning under the surface. Hopefully that is something we can get closer to in making of a sequel. That is my goal here. What I connected to as a kid has evolved over time. 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. As long as the human component is there, a good story can work in any time period, it’s not locked into a specific place in history. What’s so cool about RoboCop is that like good Westerns, sci-fi films and dramas, the human connection is really important to a story well told. 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. That is most captivating. The other thing I am excited by is the chance to work again with Justin Rhodes. He has added elements that are pretty awesome, to a sequel that was set in the world of Verhoeven. This is a movie I would love to watch.”

I would love it if they got original star Peter Weller back in some way. Even if they just used his voice.