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Neill Blomkamp Already Working on His Next Sci-Fi Comedy 'Chappie'

by Alex Billington
February 21, 2013
Source: The Province

This isn't a major update, as we're still waiting patiently for the trailer to Neill Blomkamp's second feature, Elysium, but it's a reminder and interesting news about one of our very favorite sci-fi filmmakers. Neill Blomkamp is based out of Vancouver, and has been finishing up Elysium there, but is already preparing his next feature Chappie, set to start right away. British Columbia paper The Province (via The Playlist) posted an article about a recent correspondence with Blomkamp, where he mentions that Elysium is done and waiting (due to the release date shift from March to August) while he's already working on his next film.

There are only a few new quotes from Blomkamp, and not much new info at all. First, Neill comments on the state of Elysium at this particular moment (since it was originally scheduled to be released in March): "It's kind of weird that it sits on a shelf and doesn't come out until August 9th but I think a summer release is fantastic for the film." Great to hear. We'll let you know when the first trailer hits, probably sometime in March. "Elysium is basically done at the end of February," Blomkamp says. "I have some straggling VFX shots that go into April but it's almost done. The stuff looks absolutely amazing." Can't wait to see some.

But what about his other film, Chappie? We first heard about it in 2011, as part of Blomkamp's deal with Media Rights Capitol. At the time: "MRC has given Blomkamp a greenlight on his third feature project, currently titled Chappie... will go into production 'immediately after Blomkamp' finishes." Indeed, that's all happening. The Province states "the director has already begun prep work on a third sci-fi feature that will take him back to Johannesburg for principal photography." The script for this was also written by Terri Tatchell, of District 9, and is said to be a science fiction comedy, beyond that we don't know many details.

That's all the news from their post. It's not much, but things are progressing. While we wait the remaining six months until Elysium arrives, Blomkamp may be well into pre-production and close to shooting Chappie (if not already) by the time it hits theaters. We have one badass action sci-fi from Blomkamp this year, and another comedy in the works, too. I couldn't be more excited for the many sci-fi movies in the years to come.

Filed under Development, Movie News, SciFi

From around the web:

Luke Malone

Love this guy's films, but please, give us a sequel to D9! It's been over 3 years, Christopher/Neill.
- Greedo
  
  Ugh...do we really need a sequel? I loved this movie, but the story is done. That's it. Let this guy roll with new ideas.
  - DAVIDPD
    
    SPOILERS! To be fair, the alien did say he would come back for him.
    - http://www.facebook.com/matt.peloquin.14 Matt Peloquin
      
      So? Then just assume he came back for him... ...or maybe he lied
      - DAVIDPD
        
        I suppose.
DAVIDPD

Out of all the new Sci-Fi directors I think Neil Blomkamp is easily the most impressive. His sophomore feature will likely blow away Jones and Johnson's respective (second) works.
bob

But this is more important to release at least a few second trailer of " Elysium" ! anything gone bad with movie?!!!! so secret that we may never see the movie?!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/TheSweetieMan Chris Bob

Alex, your enthusiasm for Neill is precisely why I like visiting this website so much. I've gotten to speak to a couple of people on Reddit who swear that 'Elysium' will be a 'mind blowing' film. One of the VFX artists from The Embassy--a company also based in Vancouver--didn't get to directly work on any of the shots for the movie, but his co-workers raved that it was among some of the best VFX work they've ever seen. I know the private screenings that were held back in June 2012 were met with people who either outright loved it or downright hated it--but I'd rather have such strong reactions on both sides of the fence than the boring reaction 'Pacific Rim' was met with. Anyway, as far as the trailer goes, I don't think it's coming in March. I think it's pretty much a lock for April with 'Oblivion' and 'Evil Dead' (TriStar is distributing both ED and 'Elysium' after all).
- http://www.facebook.com/matt.peloquin.14 Matt Peloquin
  
  Since when was Pacific Rim getting boring reactions? I thought it was testing well.
  - http://www.facebook.com/TheSweetieMan Chris Bob
    
    The most articulate and insightful 'review' we got following the screening was pretty negative. You can read it here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/60753 "PACIFIC RIM is an entertaining but flawed film, and like so many other films of their ilk, would have benefited from better writing. I will see it again to see the finished effects, and to see if anything changes after the Burbank screening. Unfortunately, I heard some pretty negative comments from some of the audience, and when the lights came up, there were grumblings and not a lot of clapping." And a couple of people who attended the screening stated on IMDb that there wasn't a round of applause or a standing ovation or anything like that. I'm not saying 'Pacific Rim' will suck. In fact, I'm looking forward to the movie myself. But it doesn't appear to buck any conventions or try to push the boundary of the giant robot/kaiju genre, which is what a lot of us fans of those genres was hoping to get with that film.