District 9’s Neill Blomkamp has finally shot a follow-up to his film Chappie!
Neill has had a long journey with multiple mishaps and projects that never quite happened. For whatever reason films such as Alien 5, RoboCop Returns, Greenland, and his upcoming film Inferno (delayed to 2021) just didn’t come together over the years.
However, there is news he’s finally finished a new feature film. Neill recently he shot an untitled sci-fi horror film over the summer in British Columbia, Canada (where Neill’s Oats Studios is located) according to Deadline with the new film being set for AGC Studios.
They also add they’re expected to be finished by the spring of 2021 and that cinematographer Byron Kopman worked on the horror project.
Details are scarce but this seems to be the only post Neill really made about the project, on Instagram at least.
This would be the first feature film for Neill in five years since he released Chappie back in 2015. Blomkamp had originally planned to shoot his action horror film Inferno (also at AGC Studios) in Albuquerque, New Mexico this year starring Taylor Kitsch (John Carter, True Detective) but that has been delayed to 2021. Blomkamp has been keeping himself busy shooting short films for Oats Studios alongside commercials.
AGC Studios is beyond handful of upcoming films including Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall for Lionsgate and the pandemic heist film Lockdown from director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, Chaos Walking) that stars Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Ben Stiller that landed at HBO Max. They also put together the sci-fi action film Universe’s Most Wanted with Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Spectre, Guardians of The Galaxy) and Brad Peyton directing.
While RoboCop co-creator and screenwriter Ed Neumeier (Starship Troopers) has talked up the potential of a prequel series featuring OCP’s Dick Jones, he also mentioned to SyFy Wire this month about the current status of RoboCop Returns. The direct sequel to the original 1987 film that recently saw Neill Blomkamp (District 9) exit and replaced with Aussie director Abe Forsythe (Little Monsters).
Ed talked about working with Abe and how he’s tackling the sequel.
NEUMEIER: “We had a deal, Neill came on, then Abe Forsythe came on and I think he’s using a lot of the stuff Neill had and some of the original stuff [from the 1998 script]. But Abe is doing his own version, which is what I wanted. I needed a fresh voice and he had a really interesting idea. We’re hoping when the next draft comes in we’ll be in a position to make it.”
“Abe made a really interesting movie in Little Monsters, but he made a really interesting Australian film about the race riots [Down Under] I was really impressed with, it was kind of a pseudo-documentary and had an ’80s style. I didn’t want to say too much, I wanted him to have the ideas and not worry about any other version of it, including ours, and just do his own thing. It was very nice to be able to say that to someone like Abe with confidence. What he came back with was really interesting, it felt relevant and really crackled. I expect to see a script any day now.“
According to Ed the studio hasn’t greenlit the film as they’re still trying to nail-down a script.
NEUMEIER: “No, we’re still trying to get a script right. We went on some wild rambles with Mr. Blomkamp, so Abe has his work cut out for him.”
It’ll be interesting to see if MGM Studios will end up making the film given all the hiccups. I recently watched Little Monsters and can fully support Abe tackling the world of RoboCop.
ROBOCOP – In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company’s nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.
We’ve all been extremely interested in what direction the Alien franchise could be getting in the wake of the Disney merger with 21st Century Studios, as it had been confirmed by Ridley Scott himself that he was speaking with studio executives about making a third movie that had once been referred to by the title Alien: Awakening.
While promoting his upcoming science fiction series Raised By Wolves, Ridley Scott has confirmed to Forbes that there is still active development on a third untitled Alien film and potentially gives insight on a new direction for the film, rather than continuing his string of prequels trying to make a new path via Michael Fassbender’s David.
Scott doesn’t come out and say this third movie will be a new take, he alludes that it might not be similar or connected to Prometheus and Covenant.
Here is that quick blurb from his interview with Forbes.
SCOTT: “That’s in process. We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with Prometheus and Covenant. Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful because Prometheus woke it up very well. But you know, you’re asking fundamental questions like, ‘Has the Alien himself, the facehugger, the chestburster, have they all run out of steam? Do you have to rethink the whole bloody thing and simply use the word to franchise?’ That’s always the fundamental question.”
Some of the ideas for Alien: Awakening were to fill gaps between the events of the last two films or directly seeing David getting his hands on Covenant’s colony of human settlers for future xenomorph experiments leading into the original Alien from 1979 explaining how the derelict ship got on LV-426. However, a lot of fans are not really in favor of Scott misidentifying that element of the original movie.
Another idea for the film was that surviving Engineers from other planets seeking out David to avenge his mass murder on Paradise.
I was a massive fan of all the Engineer and bio-weapon stuff from Prometheus but when Alien: Covenant abandoned all that to become a generic sci-fi slasher it sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. Such wasted potential after Scott spent all that time focusing on the Engineers being such important figures in the Alien universe/mythology only to have David commit genocide against them.
There had been a huge fan response to Neill Blomkamp’s purposed Alien 5 and the return of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, the normally coy actress had already been convinced by a pitch from Neill and was on board even before the studio agreed to allow him to develop it formally.
Alien 5 was expected to negate the events of Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, making it a direct sequel to James Cameron’s beloved Aliens with characters such as Newt, Hicks, and Bishop expected to make a return. Cameron seemingly was a fan of the film’s script calling it “gangbusters” during the Aliens 30th Anniversary panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016.
Jim’s comments contradicted statements made by Ridley that a script didn’t exist.
The idea had been that while Ripley would have been the main hero of the film, Newt (most likely recast with a new actress) would have taken over the mantle in a hypothetical Alien 6 movie as previously outlined by Neill Blomkamp when he was explaining his vision for his film and how it could revitalize the franchise.
However, there seemed to be a bit of a power struggle behind the scenes between Ridley Scott’s desire to get Alien: Covenant made and fandom’s overwhelming support to see Sigourney return to the Alien franchise with Blomkamp’s film. The two projects may have been in direct competition and Ridley was in a position of power as a producer on Alien 5 to have 20th Century greenlight his sequel instead.
Scott was so hellbent on getting Alien: Covenant made he handed the reigns of Blade Runner 2049 over to Denis Villeneuve and stepped down as that project’s director.
Blomkamp has since moved on to other projects and doesn’t seem very keen on the idea of returning to Alien 5 anytime soon.
This year a new treatment for Alien 5 was making news after franchise screenwriter Walter Hill revealed that he and his partner David Giler tackled a script dated March 2020 that may or may not feed into Blomkamp’s idea of removing Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection from franchise canon, teasing those events may have been a dream.
Scott himself is a busy bee as he has to finish filming his period thriller The Last Duel and is planning on shooting his drama Gucci sometime in the next year or so. At one point, Ridley was attached to direct a Merlin prequel film for Disney but for whatever reason pivoted to other projects instead.
Raised By Wolves debuts today on HBO Max.
RAISED BY WOLVES – The ambitious new sci-fi series centers on two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.
Earlier in the month, while praising the work of fellow director Neill Blomkamp on District 9, Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) teased that he’d love to work on something together in the future.
VOGT-ROBERTS: “Rewatching Neill Blomkamp’s DISTRICT 9. Without a doubt a modern classic. Still in awe of what he pulled off all these years later. Still a gold standard for VFX. Still explosive and brilliant. One day I hope to mind-meld with this man.”
Nothing more than a hint but it’s exciting none-the-less.
Jordan has a couple of projects in the works including a live-action adaptation of the beloved military espionage video game series Metal Gear Solid for Sony Pictures. A new draft of the script has been completed but still has yet to be given an official greenlight from the studio.
Neill Blomkamp has been having a rough time securing his next feature film bouncing from Alien 5 to RoboCop Returns to Greenland to his latest original project, a horror film titled Inferno which is expected to begin shooting soon in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Both share a love for video games having directed live-action trailers for Anthem and Destiny 2.
Last week, it was revealed by Alien franchise actress Sigourney Weaver that producer Walter Hill penned a draft for Alien 5 over a year ago. Weaver didn’t sound terribly enthusiastic about reprising the Ripley role.
Hill has now reached out to SyFy Wire and has added some new information including images of the script titled “Alien V” is dated March 13th, 2020 and is co-written by fellow franchise producer/screenwriter David Giler. The pair did rewrites on the original Alien script, worked on Aliens with James Cameron, and were behind the final version of Alien 3.
HILL: “Sigourney, as she has from the very beginning, is being too modest about her proven ability to pull off the idea — which is to tell a story that scares the pants off your date, kicks the ass of a new Xenomorph, and conducts a meditation on both the universe of the Alien franchise and the destiny of the character of Lt. Ellen Ripley.”
This would establish the pair have been more recently working on the project since Neill Blomkamp exited to purse other films and might be something they’ve been doing on their own, rather than something guided by Disney or 20th Century Studios.
Meaning that Alien V hasn’t been greenlit.
“In space nobody can hear you dream” is mentioned on the tagline, which might suggest their version could attempt to retcon both Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection via cryosleep. Blomkamp wanted to have Alien 5 a direct sequel to Aliens with bringing back characters like Hicks, Newt, and even Bishop.
I sort of get vibes from when Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free was originally tasked to develop the Alien: Origins script with Jon Spaihts before it became the version of Prometheus we know today.
We’ve been waiting to hear some update concerning the Alien franchise and while there has been some teases from Ridley Scott that his third prequel Alien: Awakening is still in development phases. A fifth Alien film starring Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley might be still in the cards despite the Neill Blomkamp incarnation of the project being placed on ice.
While speaking with Empire, Weaver revealed that she received a 50-page Alien 5 treatment 18 months ago from franchise producer and screenwriter Walter Hill. Hill has been part of the franchise since the original 1979 film and worked on scripts (including rewrites and treatments) for Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3.
She doesn’t sound as enthusiastic about Ripley’s return it as she was when Blomkamp was attached for Alien 5 as it sounds like Ridley Scott could be calling the shots.
WEAVER: “I don’t know. Ridley has gone in a different direction. Maybe Ripley has done her bit. She deserves a rest.”
I think Alien 5 is still the best way to go. Neill Blomkamp wanted to make a film that directly connected to Aliens with the return of characters such as Newt, Hicks, and Bishop after being killed-off in Alien 3, which was co-written by Walter Hill.
There is a good chance that Hill’s version might have been a continuation from Alien: Resurrection following a clone version of Ripley. Something that had been the original intention of Alien 5 when Ridley Scott and James Cameron teamed-up for their own incarnation before the studio passed to make Alien vs Predator instead.
At one point, James Cameron was able to read Neill’s script and called it “gangbusters” during an Aliens Anniversary panel at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2016.
Ridley Scott has seemingly been the main reason Alien 5 hasn’t come together as he pulled his weight at Fox to have Alien: Covenant made instead of Blomkamp’s film, essentially killing it in the process.
THE RONIN 