The reboot stars Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman – star of AMC’s TV series The Killing.
José Padilha is the director entrusted in remaking Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 science fiction classic with modern day filmmaking technology. An Oxford graduate in international politics, Padilha came to international recognition with his Rio de Janeiro favela-thrillers Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within.
The original RoboCop – which cost just $13m – is set in the not-too-distant future when multinational conglomerate OmniCorp looms large at the center of robot technology.
After Peter Weller’s policeman is injured in the line of duty, the company employs robotics to save his life, creating a mechanically enhanced half-human, half-machine.
The new Robocop film, set in 2029, promises to have a political edge; America’s controversial use of Predator Drones to take out enemy combatants throughout the world is being dramatised, with drones being used on American soil in the film.
StudioCanal will release the film theatrically and across video, video on demand and television in those territories. It gets rights to the film for 20 years.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is producing the film with Sony in tow.
Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officers of MGM Roger Birnbaum said: “MGM is thrilled to be bringing RoboCop back to the big screen,” “StudioCanal is the ideal partner to help us share the reimagined, action-packed classic with audiences in the UK, France and Germany.”
Chairman and CEO of StudioCanal Olivier Courson said: “StudioCanal is extremely happy to be partnering with MGM on RoboCop. We have been admirers of the director José Padilha since we first saw and distributed the award winning Elite Squad in the United Kingdom.
“As film fans, we cannot wait to see his vision of this new RoboCop with such an incredible cast including Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, and Samuel Jackson and with producers like Marc Abraham and Eric Newman.”
The film is currently in pre-production and slated for a summer 2013 release.
