Robocop is returning to the big screen with Neill Blomkamp tapped to direct.

Blomkamp is best known for his films Elysium, Chappie, and Oscar-nominated District 9. All of his previous works are dark, dystopian films that depict the near future in a very grim light to comment on how the world operates right now which aligns very well with the concept of Robocop.

The original Robocop film is set in 2028, and depicts a crime ridden Detroit desperately in need of a hero. Officer Alex Murphy after he was almost killed in the line of duty. To save his life, he is turned into a crime fighting cyborg affectionately called Robocop. However, all is not what it seems in this futuristic version of Detroit.

The original film flopped in the United States, but was very successful around the world. This global success spawned 2 sequels and a TV series, but none of the subsequent properties ever matched the success of the original. In 2014, MGM tried to rekindle the magic of the original by remaking the film with modern special effects. Robocop struggled in the US box office again, but more than doubled its budget in the worldwide box office.

The new film is titled Robocop Returns and will be rewritten by Justin Rhodes. Rhodes has written or co-written several upcoming films including the Terminator film that is being directed by Tim Miller, Masters of the Universe, and Green Lantern Corps. Robocop Returns will also bring back Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, the writers of the original Robocop, back as an executive producer and a producer respectively.

Source: Deadline

–Taylor Tyler