News Original Writer back for new RoboCop movie

[Kai "the spy"]

Ed Neumeier, writer of the original 1987 RoboCop, revealed that he's working on a direct sequel.

Well, here’s what I’ll say. We’re not supposed to say too much. There’s been a bunch of other RoboCop movies and there was recently a remake and I would say this would be kind of going back to the old RoboCop we 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.

CBR| The New Robocop (sic) Movie Will Ignore the Remake

I'm intrigued, but I'm not quite on board, yet. It would take Paul Verhoeven signing on for me to really get excited.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I was a little worried until he said it was a sequel of the first film. I think it's best to ignore the third film and perhaps even the second. But I'm still worried about what Hollywood will do it; it's not exactly an atmosphere where films of yesteryear can get a proper sequel.

And both contributing composers to the original films, are dead.

 

[Harvey]

I've met Neumeier a few times and he was always a nice and generous guy.

I'm not sure about going back to this well again, but if anyone can make it work, he can.

 

[Tosk]

Yeah alright, bring it on. Worst thing that can happen is a bad Robocop film and it's not like we haven't had that before.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I believe the live action tv series and the later mini series Prime Directives both treated the original film as backstory and ignored everything else. So this would be the third try at this.

In fact I believe Neumeier's unused draft for Robocop 2 was the basis for the 2 part Pilot "The Future of Law Enforcement" for the live action series.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

RoboCop (1987) is one of my all time favorite films. I would love a return of the character even if it’s in something bad (like everything with Robo from 1988 up to 2014).

Ed Neumeier’s record ain’t that great either. He also gave us Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder.

I wouldn’t get my hopes up for anything though. I’m still waiting for the RoboCop Machinima web series.

 

[Tosk]

If the new one is "only" as good as Robo2, I'll be pretty happy. Yeah, Robo2 is no Robo1 but I still enjoy it.

 

[WraithDukat]

Great news. Does any remember that shitty PC game from 2003or the equally bad Prime Directive movies?

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Not only remember them but own them all!

RoboCop (1987)
RoboCop: The Animated Series (1988)
RoboCop 2 (1990)
RoboCop 3 (1993)
RoboCop: The Series (1994)
RoboCop: Alpha Commando (1998 animated series)
RoboCop: Prime Directives (2001 miniseries)
RoboCop (2003 video-game)
RoboCop (2014 remake)

I love Robo and some of the above are guilty pleasures of mine even if some are excruciating bad if we’re being honest.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I was going to suggest that he was “doing a Singer” but given recent gossip, that might be a somewhat unfortunate and indeed libellous term.

I’d love to see Verhoeven back for this one too.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I believe the live action tv series and the later mini series Prime Directives both treated the original film as backstory and ignored everything else. So this would be the third try at this.

That '90's Canadian-made series, yes. It even used part of Poledouris' theme inside the opening credits as well in some cues here and there in episodes.

Even without that brief theme interlude, it's a kick-ass Robo theme, in my opinion.

 

[F. King Daniel]

So, a deboot.

 

[JD]

So far the only Robocop I've seen is the original, and it was good. There's definitely still a lot of potential in the concept, so it'll be interesting to see where this goes.
I wonder if they'll bring Peter Weller and Nancy Allen?

 

[Dick Whitman]

I wonder what the exact nature of Ed Neumeier involvement really is?

He was listed as "creative consultant" on the the tv series. Likely because he and his writing partner had right of first refusal for any Robcop tv series. Yet the series was announced by the television production company with no knowledge of that! So a deal was arranged. Talk about one hand, film division, not knowing what the other hand, tv division, is doing!

I am curious what comes of this. But he really only has two claims to fame. Robocop and Starship Troopers. He has written 3 Troopers sequels, one which he directed. They were ok if I am being generous.

Seems odd that MGM would give him another shot at Robocop. I imagine after so many crappy sequels in theaters, than tv, but finally a pointless remake they are willing to give him a shot.

The biggest problem I had with all the sequels is they ignore the ending of the original movie. He regained his humanity. That smile as he says his name. He knows who he is or was. Obviously he can never go back to his old life. But he is not some emotionally repressed solider.

If Neumeier can explore that I will be interested. Problem is they need Peter Weller and I can not see him agreeing to play the part again. Without him what is the point of following up the original movie? It would be like recasting Rick Deckard or Luke Skywalker. We already had 3 different actors play Robocop after Weller, before the reboot. It's become a suit they can stick anyone in and not a character.

 

[kirk55555]

I've seen the original RC trilogy, and while the first is the best I liked RC2 fairly well and RC3 was ok. I'd definitely be interested in a new moview by the old writer, as long as they don't try what that other reboot did. A R rating and not doing stupid stuff like randomly having RoboCop keep one of his human hands or totally redesigning his fairly iconic look would be nice.

 

[Marc]

But will it still be facism for socialists?

 

[PhotoBoy]

If Neumeier can explore that I will be interested. Problem is they need Peter Weller and I can not see him agreeing to play the part again. Without him what is the point of following up the original movie? It would be like recasting Rick Deckard or Luke Skywalker. We already had 3 different actors play Robocop after Weller, before the reboot. It's become a suit they can stick anyone in and not a character.

I’ve had this idea for how they could get Weller back for quite a while; basically right at the start of the film some bad guys use a flamethrower on Murphy and his face gets destroyed. OCP are able to keep Murphy alive but they are worried about the psychological impact of losing his last vestige of humanity and his identity.

So they modify his helmet to cover his lower face and tell Murphy it’s so he can heal. There would then be an LCD display in front of his lower face with a digital mouth that moves when he speaks, a bit like how KITT was depicted in Knight Rider.

This removes the need for Weller to be in the suit (the first part of the film could just use a bit of CGI face replacement) and then the rest could be done with either a motion captured CG Robo or someone else in the suit being mentored by Weller.

How does it end? I’d like to think cloning body parts becomes possible and they’re able to transplant Murphy into a new body. Maybe that’s too happy of an ending, but I always thought Murphy deserved a happy ending after all the shit he went through!