Aronofsky directed Robocop remake thrown in junk pile

News, Projects

Robocop is one of those perfect ’80s movies — high in violence, black in humor and containing a hero so bad ass he’ll dowse villains in acid and then run over them with a car. After three films, a few television shows and miniseries and a whole mess of comic books, Robocop appeared to be on the verge of a resurrection with a movie written and directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream and the upcoming Black Swan)

Looks like fans of cybernetic super cop will have to resign themselves with the fact that the original movie trilogy is headed to Blu-ray because the Financial Times and Moviehole are reporting that Aronofsky’s remake has been terminated (mixed metaphor much?) due to the financial problems at MGM.

An MGM source close to Moviehole is reported as saying the project is “Gone. Kaput. Canceled. It was one of the first casualties.”

[Darren] has lost interest anyway, I believe. Think we’re all just going to have to be happy with the three Robocop movies that are out there.”

Moviehole reports that other casualties of the MGM cave-in include another Rocky movie (possibly a remake or reboot) and a sequel to The Amityville Horror.

The Buzz: This news really disappoints me because I’ve been itching to see what Aronofsky could do with an action franchise. Love it or hate it, The Fountain showed Aronofsky has an eye for visually stunning set pieces. After his near brush with directing Batman: Year One, Robocop seemed like the next available opportunity for Aronofsky to parlay some of that magic into a big budget science fiction action bonanza.

I have no doubt that a Robocop remake will eventually get made. Probably even sooner than we all think. In the meantime, I’ll always have fond memories of Peter Weller getting blown to kingdom come with a deadly spray of bullets.

Robert Saucedo is an avid movie watcher with seriously poor sleeping habits. The Mikey from Life cereal of film fans, Robert will watch just about anything — good, bad or ugly. He has written about film for newspapers, radio and online for the last 10 years. This has taken a toll on his sanity — of that you can be sure. Follow him on Twitter at @robsaucedo2500.