Neill Blomkamp recently started his own studio, but that hasn’t stopped him from planning to return to the world of District 9. The director made his critically acclaimed directorial debut eight years ago with District 9, and people have been clamoring for a sequel ever since. Instead of immediately returning to the D9 world, though, Blomkamp decided to follow-up his success with two original films: Elysium and Chappie, both of which he wrote, directed, and produced.
Although his movies are what made him famous in the industry, his short films are where he got his start – and that’s where he wants to return. After teasing his fans on social media for months now, Blomkamp officially opened his own production studio earlier this week: Oats Studios. The new venture will allow him ample creative space to experiment with short films, all of which will release online for free. The question is, where does that leave the District 9 sequel?
Shortly after announcing the creation of Oats Studios, Neill Blomkamp spoke with The Verge about the new enterprise, as well as his past and future projects - namely his feature films. His fans have not only been wondering if he’ll actually make his proposed Alien 5 movie, but also if District 9 will ever get a sequel. Here’s what he said when asked if he would use Oats Studios to return to the world of District 9, Elysium, or Chappie:
It’s rare for a director to have a debut as critically and commercially successful as District 9. The film received an astounding 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was even nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It also managed to gross over $210 million worldwide on an estimated production budget of $30 million. The fact that it was rated R made its success all the more impressive.
“Probably not, no. In order to do that you would have to interact with the studios that own those films. The whole point here is to just be autonomous and just do whatever we want. With District 9, I plan on making another film in that world. To go back and work with WETA, and make the film would be cool, but anything that pre-exists like that may not be the best fit for whatever we’re trying here.”
Of course, fans don’t care about any of that. What they really want are answers to the legion of questions left unanswered at the end of the first film. The movie ended on a cliffhanger, with Christopher and his son departing with the alien mother ship and promising Wikus (Sharlto Copley) that he would return in three years with the cure to his ailments. Furthermore, all of the aliens in the district were then moved to a larger sector, named District 10 – the ideal name for the desired sequel.
We will bring you more District 9-related news as it becomes available.
Source: The Verge
