New ‘RoboCop’ Sequel To Exist In Original Continuity
A newRoboCopsequel? I’d buy that for a dollar. In a new interview,Ed Neumeier, who co-wrote the originalRoboCop, revealed that he’s working on a “continuation” of the the first film for MGM. Neumeier was vague on the details, but revealed the film would go back to “the old RoboCop we all love.”
RoboCop,Paul Verhoeven’s darkly comedic, nihilistic sci-fi action flick, holds up extremely well. Unlike some other action films from the 1980s,RoboCopstill seems as fresh and exciting as it did the day it was released in 1987. While there have been severalRoboCopsequels, and an absolutely dreadful remake in 2014, none of these films have ever been able to capture the manic magic of the original. That might be about to change: Ed Neumeier, who co-wrote the original film with Michael Miner, recently revealed that he’s working on a secret sequel to the film.
In an interview withZeitgeist Entertainment Magazine, Neumeier said that “people are still interested inRoboCopand they have me working on a new one at MGM right now so maybe we’ll get another one out of it.” When pressed for details about this previously-unknown sequel, Neumeier said, “We’re not supposed to say too much,” before adding:
“There’s been a bunch of otherRoboCopmovies and there was recently a remake and I would say this would be kind of going back to the oldRoboCopwe all love and starting there and going forward. So it’s a continuation really of the first movie. In my mind. So it’s a little bit more of the old school thing.”
I might be reading too much into this, but Neumeier calling the film a “continuation” rather than just a “sequel” might suggest this script will ignore all of the otherRoboCopsequels and serve as a proper sequel to the first film. This is similar to what the currentHalloweenreboot is doing. In other words, thisRoboCopmight end up being both a sequelanda reboot for the franchise.
In the originalRoboCop, Peter Weller played Alex Murphy, a patrol cop working in futuristic Detroit. After a gang of criminals brutally kills Murphy, mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products resurrects him as RoboCop – part man, part machine, all cop. Murphy then sets about tracking down the criminals who killed him. It’s a bloody, brutal, and surprisingly funny film, and while I doubt any new sequel can live up to the original – especially if director Paul Verhoeven isn’t involved – bringing the original writer back to work on a new script is a good first step.
