Solaris (Tarkovsky) Solaris (Tarkovsky)
Jul
25
2008

It’s Official:  Darren Aronofsky Bringing ROBOCOP Back To The Big Screen

Posted by Todd Brown at 2:45am.

Posted in Film News , Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, USA & Canada.

There have been rumblings about this for a while and our thanks to our man at the San Diego Comic Con, Joseph Perez, for bringing word that it is now official:  Darren Aronofsky will be bringing Robocop back to the big screen in 2010.  Road To Perdition screenwriter David Self will write the script.  Hopefully this one will wash the bad taste left by the original Robocop sequels - not to mention the bad Canadian TV series - away.  The complete announcement is below the break.

*LOS ANGELES, CA July 24, 2008 *– Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) has
signed Darren Aronofsky to direct and David Self to write a new installment
for its ROBOCOP franchise.  Aronofsky, the director of *The Fountain*, and
Self, the writer of *Road to Perdition*, make a formidable creative team,
fast tracking the ROBOCOP motion picture and spotlighting it as one of the
most anticipated new films for 2010.

The announcement was made today by Mary Parent, Chairman, Worldwide Motion
Picture Group, MGM.

In making the announcement Parent said:  “Darren is undeniably one of the
most talented, original and visceral film makers, and David is one of the
greatest writers in Hollywood.  All of us at MGM couldn’t be more excited.”

Phoenix Pictures’ Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Brad Fischer and David
Thwaites will produce ROBOCOP.  Cale Boyter, Executive Vice President
Production at MGM will oversee the project for the studio.

Phoenix Pictures’ Chairman and CEO Mike Medavoy said: “After making the
first ROBOCOP at Orion more than 20 years ago, I’m thrilled to be helping to
return this character to the screen with our partners at MGM and through the
eyes of Darren Aronofsky and David Self.”

Phoenix co-presidents Brad Fischer and David Thwaites added: “With a
filmmaker of Darren Aronofsky’s vision and imagination and a writer of David
Self’s caliber, we are poised to bring to the screen an entertaining and
provocative film, which will now be under the creative guidance of two of
the best storytellers working in our industry today.”

Aronofsky’s credits include *Pi*, *Requiem for a Dream *and *The Fountain*.
He is completing the feature, *The Wrestler* with Mickey Rourke, Marisa
Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. He is repped by CAA and attorney Carlos Goodman.

David Self’s credits include *13 Days* and *Road To Perdition*.  He wrote *God
of War* for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct, and was
a writer on Universal’s *Wolfman *currently in production.  He is
represented by UTA and attorney Karl Austen.

The original ROBOCOP, which premiered in 1987, was “part man, part machine
and all cop.” The film’s storyline focused on the future of law enforcement
as a terminally wounded cop returns to the police force as a powerful cyborg
haunted by submerged memories.  The original film was nominated for two
Academy Awards – Best Film Editing and Best Sound.  Since the film’s debut,
ROBOCOP has become one of the most successful titles in MGM’s vast film
library. The franchise continues as a worldwide phenomenon, especially in
the U.S., Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.  ROBOCOP, ROBOCOP 2, and
ROBOCOP 3 have sold approximately 4.1 million gross DVD units worldwide.

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Reader Comments

  1. brbro4 07/25/2008 @ 4:40am

    Hey, I actually loved Robocop 2 but part 3 was total crap. This is really interesting news. Aronofsky doing Robocop? I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

  2. sarkoffagus 07/25/2008 @ 5:12am

    Robocop Schmobocop. Click on the link to see Rose MacGowan looking uber-hot as Red Sonja.

  3. fudduf 07/25/2008 @ 5:53am

    am i the only person who thinks aronofsky’s films aren’t very good?  i think this guy is grossly overrated.  Pi was the only one i genuinely liked but it borrowed heavily from both Eraserhead and Tetsuo: The Iron Man. 

    either way, no one will ever touch verhoeven’s original imo.

  4. Kurt Halfyard 07/25/2008 @ 6:28am

    Don’t like this idea one bit.  Robocop is fine as it is, and shouldn’t Aronofsky be doing better things with his time?  Sure it got slapped around a bit by the media for The Fountain, but this safe-retreat seems a bit lame.

  5. Kurt Halfyard 07/25/2008 @ 6:29am

    (Here is hoping that THE WRESTLER can tide us over for a few years until this Robocop thing blows over...)

  6. Rhythm-X 07/25/2008 @ 8:39am

    If this must be done, this is the way to do it.  Plus, isn’t this supposed to be a SUPERMAN RETURNS sort of deal, a sequel that ignores the previous sequels?  Because they need to be ignored.

  7. venger 07/25/2008 @ 8:42am

    Quite a few years i read that Aranofsky was attached to direct a Lone Wolf and Cub remake. To be honest i’d rather seem him do that. On the other hand i’d prefer to see him direct more challenging stuff.

    I really wonder what he’ll do with the wrestler movie, seeing as his previous films have had this vaguely unreal feeling to them. The premise to this film sounds very much like a rocky part 6 though but we’ll see.

  8. The Visitor 07/25/2008 @ 9:06am

    Fudduf,

    you are not alone. i, too, only liked Pi. Requiem For A Dream was some real pretentious shit. can’t stand it.

    whatever Aronofsky does with Robocop, i don’t think it will reach the level of satire that Verhoeven did, or have the same amount of sarcasm.

  9. sarkoffagus 07/25/2008 @ 9:15am

    If he has to remake a Verhoeven film, he should do SHOWGIRLS. With Rosario Dawson. Please.

  10. Jahsoldier 07/25/2008 @ 10:06am

    “whatever Aronofsky does with Robocop, i don’t think it will reach the level of satire that Verhoeven did, or have the same amount of sarcasm.”

    Completely agree. This will probably end up a PG-13 (to increase the audience base) and will miss out on the extreme violence, black satire, etc that was seen in the first two films (I have tried to forget the 3rd film and the TV series as I’m sure we all have).

  11. Rhythm-X 07/25/2008 @ 10:41am

    I find the hate here rather bewildering.  MGM loves to raid its back catalog for remakes, sequels, or whatever this thing ends up being.  ROBOCOP was inevitable in this stupid, lazy day and age.  We’re damn lucky it’s not ending up in the hands of a Brett Ratner or a Paul Weak Sauce Anderson.  If Aronofsky fails with ROBOCOP, he will at least do so spectacularly, with enough gusto to kill the franchise.  And I’m not convinced he’ll fail.

  12. Kurt Halfyard 07/25/2008 @ 1:31pm

    Rhythm-X - I can’t disagree with your sentiment.  The issue I have is I’d rather him be doing original flicks over sequels.  Isn’t that the case with most interesting filmmakers?  Sure occasionally you get an Aliens, Blade II, The Dark Knight or The Good Thief.  I’d just rather see Aronfsky’s more original project along the lines (to use the analogy of the previous filmmakers) of the Abyss, Devil’s Backbone, The Prestige and The Butcher Boy.

  13. ChevalierAguila 07/25/2008 @ 1:40pm

    I also don’t like Aronofsky’s flicks at all, Requiem for a Snooze was just a 2 hrs anti-drugs ad.

    I know this remake was innevitable, but that doesn’t change the fact that it will suck. No matter who makes it, obviously this is just another poor excuse the a big hollywood studio to make a quick buck, so yeah, it’s going to be PG-13 CGI-fest time for them.

  14. ChevalierAguila 07/25/2008 @ 1:43pm

    poor excuse from a*

  15. Rhythm-X 07/25/2008 @ 4:55pm

    I don’t see Darren “Ass to ass!” Aronofsky delivering a PG-13 Robocop remakequel.  I just don’t.  You might not like his films, but he’s not one to water it down.

  16. tigrbalm 07/25/2008 @ 7:17pm

    I loved the Robocop series back when I was a pre-teen!
    This on the other hand is not good news.
    Well I guess they can’t do much worse than the travesty that was Robocop 3.

  17. Garth 07/25/2008 @ 7:21pm

    Yeah, there is NO way this comes out PG-13.  I know that everyone in Hollywood is apparently a dope, but even suits can see that making Robocop PG-13 was part of what ruined it in the first place.  And whether you LIKE his movies or not, I don’t think anyone can accuse Aronofsky of being a hack who just goes for the money, so I don’t see him just accepting this as an assignment and willing to make a PG-13 Robocop movie.

    I don’t see how this can be seen as an obvious “poor excuse...to make a quick buck” in any way.  If it was, we wouldn’t have Aronofsky directing it, we’d have a commercial or music video director with no track record whatsoever directing it.

  18. Jahsoldier 07/26/2008 @ 12:28am

    The fact is; this is potentially Aronofsky’s biggest mainstream film so he might be willing to make sacrifices. I don’t say that he definitely will (and I hope not) but this is the way Hollywood works. Only time will tell if he compromises his art for Hollywood.

  19. Rhythm-X 07/26/2008 @ 7:11am

    To be totally fair, THE FOUNTAIN was cut for its PG-13.  But that’s not exactly the same sort of film as ROBOCOP.  That’s like saying that because Herzog’s current film ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD is rated G, then his forthcoming Nicholas Cage BAD LIEUTENANT re-imagineering is going to be rated G.  Though that would be pretty funny.

  20. ChevalierAguila 07/27/2008 @ 5:16pm

    You people are being quite naive about the hollywood way of doing things, it wouldn’t be the first time they take a respectable “serious” director and use him for doing a pointless remake/hackery of a film that anybody could have directed, this practice being mostly common with foreign directors.

    So right now anything is possible.

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