Robocop Returns

[bassman]

https://deadline.com/2018/07/robocop...gm-1202424639/ EXCLUSIVE: 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. .....I’d buy that for a dollar?...

[MinionZombie]

Interesting and surprising. The inclusion of the original creators does give a positive sign, though. I just hope it works for today. So, does this mean that it continues on from the original movie and scrubs aside the various sequels? I'd imagine it'd have to be a different actor in the role, though. Hmmm ... might it be set in the past? Fingers crossed for a hard R-rating. That PG-13 remake was bullshit (it had a few interesting ideas, but was such a mess of characters and subplots and CGI and softly-softly that it was ultimately worth forgetting).

[bassman]

I could totally see them being able to use Weller in a successful way. Mainly, you only see the lower portion of his face, and even when they remove the helmet, he already looked “off” due to the makeup in the original film. Also, the industry has almost completely nailed the de-aging technique used in various films in recent years. For example, Guardians Volume 2, Ant-Man, and I feel like they really nailed it in the new Ant-Man. Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeifer’s de-aging is done phenomenally well. So with the main character having his face covered for a majority of the film, I see no reason they couldn’t get Weller back and continue his story. I would think that the biggest concern from the studio’s standpoint would be, do the majority of modern audiences remember enough or care enough to see those same characters return? Film fans of course would, but what about the larger general audiences that may have never even seen Verboeven’s original?...

[beat_truck]

Smells like another unneeded cash in and a failure waiting to happen, but I could be wrong.

[MinionZombie]

I'm not sure they'd be willing to spunk de-ageing CGI tech (costly) on an R-rated follow-up to RoboCop, regardless of the original movie's iconic status and place as a film fan favourite. Perhaps some kind of CGI 'face replacement' thing? They could film Weller's mouth and face, kind of like they do with the Andy Serkis mocap stuff, and then place it on someone else's body performance (so Weller wouldn't have to be in the suit - he didn't enjoy it then, he won't enjoy it now even more so, lol!) I've heard good things about the de-ageing in the new Ant-Man movie, and I've also heard that apparently there'll be a de-aged version of Nick Fury in the up-coming 1990s-set Captain Marvel with him appearing throughout the entire movie. It still takes a lot of doing (and cash) to pay for such things, but I have heard that the tech is coming along nicely (and will therefore get relatively cheaper ... but cheap enough for a RoboCop follow-up? I'd doubt that.)

[JDP]

They should do it like they did it with Bruce Lee's posthumous Game of Death (1978): just paste a photo of the actor on the double's face

[bassman]

Minor updates from Producer Edward Neumier: 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 ... I think Neill really really wants to make a good RoboCop movie. His idea is that it should be the proper Verhoeven... if (Paul Verhoeven) had directed a movie right after RoboCop I think that’s what he is trying to achieve and I hope he does." Neumeier couldn't give many details on what they have in the works, but HN did manage to get him to comment on the story's villains: ...we had some ideas about, shall we say, the future of augmented humans, and one of our villains is that and our other villain lives in the corporate world somewhat as before. But, you know, the RoboCop thing for me was always exploring man's relationship with technology, coping with technology." We recently heard a rumor that original ROBOCOP star Peter Weller isn't interested in coming back for ROBOCOP RETURNS, which is disappointing but also makes sense. Weller is in his 70s now, so I could totally understand if he doesn't want to mess around with any of the costume or prosthetic issues involved with playing RoboCop. Blomkamp and Neumeier aren't giving up hope, though. They both want Weller in RETURNS. “Neill Blomkamp wants to bring Peter Weller back, and what you get when you do that, if you use the DNA of the old property in the new, is that you get something that shares continuity and fans can embrace the brand, it’s not too different. ... When I was sitting and writing 30 years later, rewriting, the second draft of our sequel to RoboCop, which was called The Corporate Wars at the time and is now called RoboCop Returns, I kept hearing Peter's voice.” https://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/...obocop-returns

[bassman]

Anyone seen the new KFC commercials in which Robocop is Colonel Sanders?? It’s so ludicrous it cracks me up. I would’ve loved to have been in the meetings where this advertising strategy was first suggested...

[bassman]

Blomkamp has had to leave the sequel because of scheduling conflicts. Says he took another thriller project and MGM has Robocop Returns on the fast track, so it’ll be going to another director, and he is excited to watch the film in theaters with fans. https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/nei...obocop-returns First his Aliens sequel fell through and now this. It’s a shame, because I feel like he could have done something great with it!