Original writer of RoboCop is penning a direct sequel to 80s classic

Would you buy this for a dollar?

Ed Neumeier, who co-wrote Paul Verhoeven’s classic 1987 action-thriller RoboCop, says he’s working on a sequel to the film for MGM.

“People are still interested in RoboCop and they have me working on a new one at MGM right now so maybe we’ll get another one out of it,” he told Zeitgeist.

“We’re not supposed to say too much,” he added, before saying: “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.”

Neumeier also penned Starship Troopers for Verhoeven (but also the less well received Starship Troopers 2, Starship Troopers 3 and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars, all based on the book by Robert A. Heinlein).

The original RoboCop, which Neumeier wrote with Michael Miner, found Peter Weller playing Alex Murphy, a cop in a dystopian vision of Detroit, who is gunned down and then rebuilt as half man, half robot, and billed as the future of law enforcement.

Though it wasn’t a roaring success at the box office, it hauled in a considerable amount from video rental, and became a cult classic, thanks to some satirical nods and its subversive, anti-corporate themes.

It was remade by director Jose Padilha in 2014, with Neumeier and Miner receiving writing credits, and Joel Kinnaman in the role of Murphy, alongside Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton.

A modest success, it made $242 million at the box office, and received a handful of decent reviews.

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