Another Robocop film is in the works. After the 2014 reboot failed, and Neill Blomkamp‘s version fell through after he walked away in August, MGM have hired Little Monsters director Abe Forsythe to helm the new film.
This version will be getting the 2018 Halloween/Terminator: Dark Fate treatment. That is, it’s a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring everything else. MGM will be hoping it’s a lot more Halloween than Dark Fate, at the box office at least.
Original screenwriters Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner are producing. They also penned the original sequel script, but Justin Rhodes then retooled it. Rhodes, coincidentally or not, just wrote Dark Fate. Forsythe will now rewrite Rhodes’ script. This doesn’t sound convoluted at all.
The original RoboCop was directed by Paul Verhoeven, and was pretty much a perfect storm that wouldn’t have worked at a different time with a different director. That’s been proven by every sequel and attempt to re-do it failing miserably. Most of the subsequent films fail to say anything substantial like Verhoeven’s film did about identity and ideas of law and order.
It’s also worth wondering if RoboCop is even IP audiences care about anymore. This is especially strange timing for this announcement considering that we’re coming to the end of a year where reboots of older films have failed. The aforementioned Dark Fate, Men In Black: International, and the recent Charlie’s Angels have all performed poorly.
It seems likely that audiences are getting a little sick of all the reboots. Yes, the Disney live-action remakes will always perform well, and there will be a few outliers, but there’s been an utter rejection of sequels to old classics. Why does MGM think RoboCop will perform any better?
Forsythe is best known thus far for his foul-mouthed comedies. But Little Monsters mixed that comedy with the zombie genre, and RoboCop has always been about the merging of genres, so he could be an excellent fit.
RoboCop‘s themes, which examined the link between technology, law enforcement and corruption, couldn’t be more timely, but will a studio-mandated RoboCop even attempt to tackle any of that? Don’t count on it.
#Peace.Love.RoboCop
