1987's Robocop was perfect, its sequels bad, and 2014's remake forgettable. Earlier this year, the original's co-writer, Ed Neumeier, let out that he'd been working on a new sequel, and now it's official. Neill Blomkamp is directing, with Neumeier and co-writer Michael Miner producing. Justin Rhodes is rewriting a script Neumeier and Miner originally crafted in the 1980s for Robocop II that was ultimately rejected; Frank Miller got the job instead.

The original film was a formative touchstone for Blomkamp, whose District 9 grossed $210 million worldwide, got four Oscar nominations and who followed with several science fiction films that carried a polemical message under the surface, including Elysium and Chappie. He has spent the last few years building Oats Studios in Vancouver, where has been producing short form content he has written, directed and self-financed. Blomkamp jumped at the chance to do a RoboCop that harkens back to and picks up the story line from the original film. His own films have highlighted themes like immigration, exclusion and the haves and have nots, and while RoboCop — made in the Reagan era and focused on corporate greed — a different part of the original story has become most important to him.

Hire Peter Weller.

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