Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

RoboCop

2/1/12 - MGM has hired Nick Schenk to work on the screenplay for RoboCop. Jose Padilha is attached to direct the action sci-fi reboot, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  MGM has been developing a new take on the RoboCop franchise, which launched with the 1987 film directed by Paul Verhoeven, for years. The studio is hoping for a summer start, but no one has yet been cast in the title role.

3/1/11 - Jose Padilha is in talks to direct Robocop for MGM, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Robocop is remake of the 1987 sci-fi action film which introduced Paul Verhoeven to Hollywood and featured a cop who is brought back from the brink of death in the form of a cyborg with no memories of his prior life.  MGM is selecting writers to pen a new script.

7/15/09 - The Hollywood Reporter Risky Biz blog has an interesting column about Fountain director Darren Aronofsky's dilemma: He's on the verge of a deal to direct the supernatural Natalie Portman movie Black Swan later this year, throwing into question his involvement in a reboot of the RoboCop franchise, on which he has been working with writer David Self.

12/11/08 – SCI FI Wire reported that Darren Aronofsky, who is attached to direct a remake of RoboCop, said he has long been drawn to cyborg stories and is aiming for a hardcore interpretation of the movie.  The original Paul Verhoeven R-rated film was notoriously violent. Its sequels toned down the carnage to earn a PG-13 rating and a TV series was even more watered down. But Aronofsky said that he plans to return to the hardcore tone.  "If we do it, it [can] definitely be rated R," Aronofsky said. "I mean, it won't necessarily, but we have that freedom."  At this stage, Aronofsky is just developing the screenplay with writer David Self. "We have a long way to go," he said. "So until there's a screenplay, there's nothing to really talk about. Until we're going, it just doesn't exist for me. It's just like we're trying to get something good, and we'll see what happens."  MGM hopes to have RoboCop in theaters in 2010.

7/25/08 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures announced that it has signed Darren Aronofsky to direct and David Self to write a new installment for its RoboCop franchise.  Aronofsky and Self signed on to a project that is fast-tracked for release in 2010.  Phoenix Pictures' Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Brad Fischer and David Thwaites will produce RoboCop. Cale Boyter, executive vice president for production at MGM, will oversee the project for the studio.  No story details were announced.

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