According to Deadline, MGM is currently in negotiations to bring Brazilian director Jose Padilha to the U.S. to helm the studio’s remake of the RoboCop franchise. With all the hubbub surrounding the Detroit/RoboCop statue debacle, seems like a good time for the studio (who still isn’t out of the woods financially) to generate some quick-ish income.
Reconstituted under Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, MGM has targeted Robocop as its first major franchise play, and they worked hard to find a filmmaker who could play on a global field. They were impressed by Padilha’s track record with taut crime dramas Elite Squad and a sequel that came out in 2010.
Darren Aronofsky, currently of Black Swan fame, was developing before MGM ran into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The studio is currently proceeding with RoboCop, The Hobbit, and the latest James Bond movie. It’s just too bad we won’t see Peter Weller under the helmet.
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Robocop? This is proof to me that one day movies like Back to the Future, The Goonies, and Terminator will all get remade as well. Nothing will be left alone so that a buck can be turned. I still can’t believe that Alien, Footloose, and the Karate Kid all have “remade” next to their name. (Or will have it soon.)
Is nothing sacred anymore?
Is nothing sacred anymore?
Nope. And I’m not sure I want them to start canonizing with Robocop… :)
On that note, it seems that everytime hollywood “grabs a four leaf clover they turn it into poison ivy”(no not the Batman Villianess either unless you count the Joel Schumacher version..) Concept of not screwing with a good movie has long left Hollowood(hollywood) True Grit is a good example, sorry but the dude couldn’t fill the toe of one of the Duke’s cowboy boots….
I don’t have a problem with a new Robocop movie.. but a reboot seems a bit unnecessary to me. Just flash something on the screen informing us that Robocop 3 was some kind of massive group delusion and never happened and then move on.
What would be kind of funny to me is if this movie comes out around the same time as the new Judge Dredd movie. Since let’s be honest.. Robocop in many ways IS Judge Dredd in a different outfit and Americanized.
Why a RoboCop reboot? If there’s a Peter Weller movie that needs revisiting, surely it’s Buckaroo Banzai.
I’d like to see a new RoboCop movie. I love the originals, but it’s really not as timeless as Star Wars or other movies that everyone screams shouldn’t be redone. I know in a few years when my 3 year old and 9 month old actually get old enough to watch those types of movies, I highly doubt they’re going to be all that interested in the old RoboCop movies. Hopefully I can school them in some great old movies, but anything that gets me more RoboCop and gets new younger audiences into the stuff I already want to see on the screen then I’m fine with it. Everyone lamenting these things seems to act as if a new version negates the original and that it’ll cease to exist and that since they love the original, there’s no reason to try to make a newer version that’s more relevant for people of this cinematic climate. The new Karate Kid wasn’t horrible, it’s inferior to the Pat Morita/Ralph Macchio version in my opinion but it’s a serviceable movie that maybe/hopefully we can use to get younger people interested in watching the original version that it came from. Plus a new movie could mean better versions of the originals coming out on Blu-Ray and statues and more cool merchandise that I can buy.