'Robocop' reboot: President Donald Trump election helped revive old script

An old script of “Robocop” came into focus at the time when President Donald Trump was elected. The election result set the ball rolling for a reboot of the franchise, and now “District 9” film director is set to helm the reboot.

In an interview with Deadline, Edward Neumeier said that just when President Trump was about to be elected, he got a call from MGM President Jon Glickman, who asked him about an old script he wrote for a sequel to the 1987 film.

That old script was never made into a film for different reasons, but it caught the attention of Glickman because in it a reality TV series star goes on to become the president of the US. That call set in motion the revival of the franchise with a reboot that will be directed by Neil Blomkamp.

The title of the upcoming film has been revealed to be “RoboCop Returns.” The plot of the film is a little vague at the moment, and it reads “anarchy reigns and the fate of Detroit hangs in the balance as RoboCop makes his triumphant return to fight crime and corruption.”

A reboot of the franchise has been tried before with limited success. The 2014 film starring Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy and Michael Keaton as the villain Raymond Sellars wasn’t able to capture the imagination of the audience the way the franchise did in the 1980s. Will Blomkamp be able to work his magic and give this new reboot the same success that he achieved with District 9”?

Some of the other big projects that Blomkamp has directed are “Elysium” and “Chappie.” He is currently busy with the upcoming film “Greenland.”

“The original definitely had a massive effect on me as a kid,” Blomkamp said, so it is clear that he is a fan of RoboCop.