RoboCop is a 1987 American action science fiction film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith and Miguel Ferrer. RoboCop is set in crime-ridden Detroit in the near future and its protagonist is police officer Alex Murphy (Weller), who is murdered by a gang of criminals and revived by mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products as cyborg law enforcement officer RoboCop. Unaware of his previous life, RoboCop wages a campaign against crime while coming to terms with the lingering fragments of his humanity.
The film was conceived by Neumeier while working on the set of Blade Runner (1982) and developed the idea with Miner. Their script was bought by producer Jon Davison on behalf of Orion Pictures in early 1985. Finding a director proved difficult; Verhoeven twice rejected the script because he did not understand its satirical content, until his wife convinced him of its value. Filming took place from August to October 1986, mostly in Dallas, Texas. Rob Bottin led the special effects team, which created practical effects, brutal gore and RoboCop costumes.
Verhoeven emphasized violence throughout the film, which was so obscure as to become comical. However, the censorship boards felt that this was too extreme, and several scenes were cut or edited to get an acceptable rating for theaters. RoboCop was a financial success after its release in July 1987, and grossed $53.4 million. Reviewers praised it as a smart action film with deeper philosophical ideas and satire, but were ambivalent about its extreme violence. The film was nominated for several awards, winning an Academy Award and a number of Saturn Awards.
RoboCop was reviewed by critics after its release and was named one of the best films of the 1980s and one of the best science fiction and action films ever made. The film was praised for its depiction of a robot stricken by the loss of humanity, in contrast to the stoic and emotionless robotic characters of the time. RoboCop continues to be i analyzed for its themes, such as the nature of humanity, personal identity, corporate greed and corruption, and is seen as a rebuke to the Reaganomics of the time. Its success has spawned franchises: the sequels RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993), children's animated series, live-action television shows, video games, comic books, toys, clothing, and other merchandise. A remake was released in 2014.
Plot
In this near-future dystopia, Detroit is on the brink of social and financial collapse. A city overwhelmed by crime and dwindling resources grants mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) control of the Detroit Police Department. OCP Chief President Dick Jones shows off ED-209, a law enforcement droid designed to replace the police. ED-209 malfunctions and brutally kills a senior executive, allowing ambitious junior executive Bob Morton to present the OCP chairman ("Old Man") with his own project: the RoboCop.
Meanwhile, police officer Alex Murphy is transferred to the Metro West precinct. Murphy and his new partner Anne Lewis are in pursuit of notorious criminal Clarence Boddicker and his gang: Emil Antonowsky, Leon Nash, Joe Cox and Steve Minh. The gang ambushes and tortures Murphy until Boddicker fatally shoots him. Morton has Murphy's corpse transformed into RoboCop, a heavily armored cyborg who has no memory of his previous life. RoboCop is programmed with three main instructions: serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and obey the law. The fourth prime directive, Directive 4, is secret.
RoboCop, who is reassigned to the West Metro, is celebrated by the media for his brutally effective campaign against crime. Lewis suspects it's Murphy because he recognizes the unique way he keeps his gun in holster (a trick Murphy learned to impress his son). After experiencing a nightmare about Murphy's death during maintenance, RoboCop meets Lewis, who addresses Murphy. While making his rounds, RoboCop arrests Emil, who recognizes Murphy's mannerisms; this makes him even more memorable to RoboCop. RoboCop then uses the police database to identify Emil's associates and looks at Murphy's police records. More memories come to mind when he visits Murphy's former home, where his wife and son moved after his death. Elsewhere, Jones gets Boddicker to murder Morton in revenge for Morton's attempt to usurp his position in OCP. RoboCop tracks down Boddicker's gang and after a shootout, he brutally interrogates Boddicker until he confesses to working for Jones; however, he cannot kill him because doing so would violate his prime directive. RoboCop attempts to arrest Jones in the OCP tower, but Directive 4 is activated: a security measure that incapacitates RoboCop when he intervenes against an OCP executive. Jones admits his guilt in Morton's death and launches ED-209 to destroy RoboCop. Although he manages to escape, RoboCop is attacked by police forces at the behest of OCP and is severely damaged. He is rescued by Lewis, who brings him to an abandoned steel mill to repair himself.
The police force, angry at the OCP's underfunding and understaffing, goes on strike; Detroit descends into chaos as riots break out across the city. Jones frees Boddicker and his remaining gang and arms them with powerful weapons to destroy RoboCop. Boddicker's men are quickly dispatched in the steel mill, but Lewis is badly wounded; RoboCop, trapped under the steel girders, kills Boddicker with a stab to the neck.
RoboCop confronts Jones in the OCP tower during a board meeting and reveals the truth about Morton's murder. Jones takes the Old Man hostage and is fired from OCP; this voids Directive 4 and allows RoboCop to shoot him, causing Jones to fall through a window and die. The old man compliments RoboCop's shooting and asks him his name; he replies, "Murphy".
Cast
- Peter Weller as Alex Murphy / RoboCop: Detroit cop murdered in the line of duty and revived as a cyborg
- Nancy Allen as Anne Lewis: A tough a loyal policewoman
- Daniel O'Herlihy as "Old Man": the OCP Chief
- Ronny Cox as Dick Jones: the OCP Chief
- Kurtwood Smith as Clarence Boddicker: Crime boss in cahoots with Dick Jones
- Miguel Ferrer as Bob Morton: Ambitious junior OCP executive in charge of the "RoboCop" project
In addition to the main cast, RoboCop features Paul McCrane as Emil Antonowsky, Ray Wise as Leon Nash, Jesse D. Goins as Joe Cox and Calvin Jung as Steve Minh, members of the Boddicker gang. Also starring are Robert DoQui as Sergeant Warren Reed, Michael Gregory as Lieutenant Hedgecock, Felton Perry as OCP employee Donald Johnson, Kevin Page as OCP junior executive Mr. Kinney (who is shot by ED-209) and Lee de Broux as cocaine warehouse owner Sal.
Mario Machado and Leeza Gibbons play news anchors Casey Wong and Jesse Perkins, respectively, and TV show host Bixby Snyder is played by S. D. Nemeth. Angie Bolling and Jason Levine appear as Murphy's wife and son. RoboCop director Paul Verhoeven will appear in cameo role as a dancing nightclub patron, producer Jon Davison will provide the voice of ED-209, and director John Landis will appear in a movie commercial. Smith's partner Joan Pirkle will appear as Dick Jones' secretary.
Production
Concept and script
RoboCop was conceived in the early 1980s. s in the early s by a younger story supervisor and aspiring Universal Pictures screenwriter Edward Neumeier. Neumeier, a fan of science fiction films with robotic themes, Star Wars and action movies, became interested in them while researching advanced comic books for possible adaptation. In 1982, the science fiction film Blade Runner was being filmed on the Warner Bros. lot behind Neumeier's office, and he unofficially joined the production to learn about filmmaking. Working there gave him the idea for RoboCop: "I had a vision of a remote Blade Runner-type world where there was a fully mechanical police officer who had grown to a sense of real human intelligence." He spent the next few nights writing a forty-page outline.
While researching story pitches for Universal, Neumeier came across a student video by aspiring director Michael Miner. The pair met and discussed their similar concepts: Neumeier's RoboCop and Miner's robotic-themed rock video. In a 2014 interview, Miner said he also had an idea called SuperCop. They formed a working partnership and discussed the idea for about two months and wrote together for two to three months on nights and weekends, in addition to their regular jobs. Their collaboration was difficult at first because they did not know each other well and had to learn how to criticize each other constructively.
Neumeier was influenced to the early killing of the main character by the psychological horror film Psycho (1960), whose protagonist was killed at the beginning of the film. Inspired by comic books and his experience with corporate culture, Neumeier wanted to satirize the business culture of the 1980s. He noted the increasing aggressiveness of American financial services in response to the growing influence of Japan and the popularity on Wall Street of The Book of Five Rings, a 17th century book about how to kill more efficiently. Neumeier also theorized that growing bureaucracy was to blame for the decline of Detroit's auto industry. The failure of ED-209 in the OCP meeting room stemmed from Neumeier's office dreams of a robot that would burst into meetings and kill everyone. Miner described the film as "comic relief for a cynical time" in the Ronald Reagan presidency, when economist "Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys were looting the world, made possible by Reagan and the Central Intelligence Agency. So when you have a cop who works for a corporation that insists 'you belong to me,' and he still does the right thing - that's the heart of the movie." Neumeier and Miner devised the in-universe news and commercial "media breaks" that appear throughout RoboCop, and by December 1984, the special script was completed.
Development
The first draft of the script, titled RoboCop: The Future of Law Enforcement, was given to friends and industry associates in early 1985. A month later, Neumeier and Miner had two offers: one from Atlantic Releasing and the other from director Jonathan Kaplan and producer Jon Davison of Orion Pictures. A veteran producer of exploitation and B-movies such as the parody Airplane! (1980), Davison said he was attracted to the script's satire. He screened Neumeier and Miner's films - including Madigan (1968), Rough Harry (1971) and Mad Max 2 (1981) - to demonstrate the tone he wanted. After Orion gave the project the green light, Neumeier and Miner began work on a second version.
Davison produced the film with his company, Tobor Pictures. Neumeier and Miner were paid several thousand dollars for the rights to the screenplay and 25 000 between them for the rewrite. After the film's release, they were entitled to eight percent of the producer's profits. Davison's contacts with puppeteers, animators and practical effects artists were crucial to Verhoeven, who had no previous experience with them. Producers discussed changing the Detroit setting, but Neumeier insisted on its importance because of the declining auto industry. The connection between Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones was added at Orion's suggestion.
Kaplan left to direct Project X (1987) and the search for his replacement took six months; many candidates declined because of the film's title. The project was offered to David Cronenberg, Alex Cox and Monte Hellman; Hellman joined as second unit director. Miner asked to direct, but Orion refused to entrust the $7 million project to an untested director. He turned down the second-staff director position to direct Deadly Weapon (1989); Orion executive Barbara Boyle suggested Paul Verhoeven, who had been praised for his work on Soldier of Orange (1977) and his first English-language film, Flesh Blood (1985), as director. Verhoeven looked at the first page and rejected the script as terrible, putting the project on hold. Boyle sent Verhoeven another copy and suggested he pay attention to the subtext. Verhoeven was still uninterested until his wife Martine read it and encouraged him to give it a chance, and said he had missed the "soul" of the story about someone who had lost his identity. Verhoeven, who speaks no English, said the satire made no sense to him; the scene that caught his eye was RoboCop returning to Murphy's abandoned house and reliving memories of his former life.
Davison, Neumeier and Verhoeven discussed the project at Culver Studios headquarters. Verhoeven wanted to direct it as a serious film; Neumeier made comic books available to him to explain what tone they wanted, including 2000 AD with the character of Judge Dredd. Neumeier and Miner wrote a third version based on Verhoeven's requests, which they worked on through injuries and long nights; the 92-page revision included a subplot about the love affair between Murphy and Lewis. After reading it, Verhoeven acknowledged that he was wrong, and went back to the second draft, looking for a comic book tone.
Accounting
The search for an actor to play Alex Murphy/RoboCop took six to eight months. In consideration came Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Ironside, Rutger Hauer, Tom Berenger, Armand Assante, Keith Carradine and James Remar. Orion favored Schwarzenegger, star of its recent success Terminator (1984), but he and the other actors were considered too physically imposing to be believable in a RoboCop costume; it was thought that Schwarzenegger would look like the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Doughboy. Others were reluctant because their face would largely hidden under the helmet. Davison said Weller was the only one who wanted to star in the film. Speaking in his favor was the low salary he was receiving, good body control from martial arts training and marathon running, and his fan base in the sci-fi genre after his performance in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984). Verhoeven said he hired him because "he had a very good chin". Weller spent several months working with mime Moni Yaki, with whom he developed a fluid movement style with a stiff finish, while wearing an American football jersey to approximate the finished costume. Weller has stated that working with Verhoeven was his main reason for choosing this role and not for appearing in King Kong Lives (1986).
Stephanie Zimbalist was cast as Murphy's partner Anne Lewis, but withdrew due to contractual obligations to the Remington Steele film (which was cancelled in 1986 but revived due to its popularity). Her replacement, Nancy Allen, thought the title of the film was terrible, but found the script engaging. Allen was known for her long blonde hair, but Verhoeven wanted to cut it short so as not to sexualize the character. Her hair was cut eight times before the desired look was achieved. Allen received police training for the role and sought advice from her father, a police lieutenant. Verhoeven urged her to act manly and put on weight, which she achieved by quitting smoking.
Kurtwood Smith auditioned for the role of Boddicker and Jones. He was known mainly from television work, had no success in film and saw RoboCop as a B-movie with potential. His character was scripted to wear glasses to look like Nazi party member Heinrich Himmler. Smith was unaware of this and interpreted it to mean that the character had an intelligent and militaristic front to hide the fact that he was a "sneering, smirking drug kingpin". Ironside was offered the role, but after working on Extreme Prejudice (1987), he didn't want to be involved in another special effects-filled film or play a "psychopath". Robert Picardo also auditioned for the role.
Ronny Cox had the stereotypical idea that he was playing generally lovable characters, and he said that it left him with the impression that he couldn't play more masculine roles. For this reason, Verhoeven cast him as the villain Dick Jones. Cox has stated that playing a villain is "about a billion times more fun than playing a good guy". Jones, according to him, has no compassion and is an "evil son of a bitch". Miguel Ferrer was unsure whether the film would be a success, but was desperate for work and would accept any offer. The Old Man was based on a film by MCA Inc. CEO Lew Wasserman, whom Neumeier considered a powerful and intimidating person. Television host Bixby Snyder was written as a more Americanized, extreme version of British comedian Benny Hill. Radio personality Howard Stern was offered an unspecified role, but turned it down because he thought the idea was stupid (although he later praised the finished film).
Shooting
Main filming began on August 6, 1986 with a budget of $11 million. The cinematographer was Jost Vacano, who had worked with Verhoeven on The Soldier of Orange. Verhoeven wanted Blade Runner screenwriter Lawrence G. Paull, but Davison said he could afford either a great set designer or great RoboCop costumes - not both. William Sandell was hired. Monte Hellman directed several action scenes.
RoboCop was shot mostly in Dallas, with additional filming taking place in Las Colinas and Pittsburgh. Verhoeven wanted a filming location that hinted at the near future. Detroit was rejected because it had many low buildings, many apartment buildings and Victorian-style buildings. Neumeier said it was also a union town, making it expensive to shoot in that city. Detroit appeared briefly in nighttime, supply aerial shots at the beginning of the film. Chicago was rejected for aesthetic reasons, New York because of the high cost, and California because, according to Davison, Orion wanted to distance himself from the project. Dallas was chosen over Houston because it has modern buildings and older, less-maintained areas where explosives could be used. The plan to shoot in Dallas was nine weeks, but it soon became clear that it would take longer. Based on the footage, Orion approved a schedule extension and increased the budget to $13.1 million. The weather fluctuated during filming; in Dallas, the summer weather was often 90 to 115 °F (32 to 46 °C), and Pittsburgh's weather was freezing.
The RoboCop costume was not completed until some time into filming. While this didn't affect the filming schedule, it denied Weller an expected month for costume fittings. Weller was frustrated with the costume; it was too cumbersome for him to move around in as he had rehearsed, and spent hours trying to fit it. He had difficulty seeing and interacting with (or grasping) objects through the helmet's thin visor. Weller had a disagreement with Verhoeven and was fired, with Lance Henriksen being considered as a replacement; however, because the costume was designed for Weller, he was called upon to repair the damage. Mim Moni Yakim helped Weller develop a slower, more deliberate way of moving. Weller's experience in costume was exacerbated by the warm weather, which caused him to sweat up to 3 pounds (1.4 kg) a day. Verhoeven began taking prescription medication to cope with insomnia caused by stress, and filmed scenes under the influence.
He often choreographed scenes with the actors before filming. Improvisation was also encouraged, as Verhoeven believed it could produce interesting results. Smith improvised some of his character's idiosyncrasies, such as sticking gum on the secretary's desk or spitting blood on the police station counter, "What if I spit blood on the desk?" ... [Verhoeven] smiled and we did it." Neumeier was on set for the entire shoot and occasionally wrote other scenes, including a New Year's Eve party after seeing some props for party hats and a report on the misfire of the Strategic Defense Initiative platform. Verhoeven found Neumeier's presence invaluable, as they could discuss how to adjust the script or shooting location to make the scene work.
Verhoeven gained a reputation for verbal aggression and antisocial behavior on set; however, Smith said he never yelled at the actors, but was too engrossed in filming to be sociable. Cox and Allen spoke warmly of Verhoeven. In between filming, Weller spent time with the actors who played his enemies (including Smith, Ray Wise, and Calvin Jung), who maintained a healthy lifestyle that supported Weller in training for the New York City Marathon.
A number of locations in Dallas and the surrounding area were used during filming. The office in Renaissance Tower was used for OCP's interior; the company's exterior is Dallas City Hall, spruced up with matte paintings to make it look taller. OCP's elevator was the Plaza of the Americas elevator. The exterior of the Detroit Police Station is Crozier Tech High School; its interior is the Sons of Hermann hall and City Hall is the Dallas Municipal Building. The scenes in which the Boddicker gang blows up storefronts were filmed in the Deep Ellum neighborhood. One explosion was bigger than expected; the actors are seen dodging the road, Smith had to take off his coat because it was on fire, and the actors involved were paid an extra $400 as a stunt fee. The Shell gas station that exploded was located in Arts District, where locals, unaware of the shooting, called the fire department. The script said the flames would modify the sign to read "hell"; Davison approved it, but it does not appear in the film. Miner called it an unfortunate omission.
The nightclub was the former Starck Club. Verhoeven was filmed demonstrating how clubbers are supposed to dance, and the footage was used in the film. Other Dallas locations included César Chávez Boulevard, Reunion Arena and the Crescent parking lot. The final battle between RoboCop and Boddicker's gang was filmed at a steel mill in Monessen near Pittsburgh. Filming wrapped at the end of October 1986.
Post-production
A further budget increase of $600 000 was approved by Orion for post-production and music, bringing the budget to $13.7 million.
Frank J. Urioste was the film's editor. At this stage, several pick-up shots were filmed, including Murphy's death, RoboCop taking off his helmet, and footage of the holster. After the scene in the OCP meeting room, in which RoboCop calls himself Murphy, the next scene showed Lewis living in the hospital, and then showed RoboCop on patrol. They felt that the second scene detracted from the triumphant feeling of the first scene, and therefore it was removed. Verhoeven wanted the media breaks in the film to abruptly interrupt the narrative and unsettle the viewer. He was influenced by the art of Piet Mondrian, which featured sharp black lines separating squares of colour. Many Media Break films were directed by Peter Conn, but "TJ Lazer" was directed by Neumeier.
The violent content of RoboCop made it difficult to receive an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which restricted the film to viewers over the age of 17 unless accompanied by an adult. It originally received a stricter X rating, which limited access to the film to those over 17. Although some reports state that the R rating was denied eleven times, Verhoeven said there were actually eight. The MPAA took issue with several scenes, including Murphy's death and the ED-209 shooting of the manager. Violent scenes were cut and media breaks were added to lighten the atmosphere; Verhoeven recalled that one reviewer was confused by their disturbing appearance in the film and complained that the projectionist used the wrong film reel.
The MPAA also objected to a scene in which the mutant Emil is dismembered by Boddicker's car, but Verhoeven, Davison and Orion refused to remove it because it consistently elicited the biggest laughs during test screenings. Verhoeven conceived of the violence as comic and surreal, and believed the cuts made the scenes seem more (not less) violent. He said that his young children laughed at the cut with the X marking and the audience laughed less at the version with the R marking. According to Verhoeven, people "like to see violence and terrible things". The film is 103 minutes long.
Basil Poledouris composed the music for the film after collaborating with Verhoeven on the film Flesh and Blood. The music combines synthesizers and orchestral music and reflects the cyborg nature of RoboCop. The music was performed by Sinfonia London.
Special Effects and Design
Special Effects
The special effects were created by Phil Tippett, Stephan Dupuis, Bart Mixon and Craig Davies under the direction of Rob Bottin. The effects were very brutal because Verhoeven believed it made the scenes more entertaining. He likened the brutality of Murphy's death to the crucifixion of Jesus, which was an effective way to evoke sympathy for the character. The scene was filmed in an abandoned car assembly plant in Long Beach, California, on an elevated stage that allowed operators to control the effects from below. To show Murphy being dismantled by gunfire, prosthetic arms were cast from alginate and filled with tubing that could pump artificial blood and compressed air. Weller's left arm, attached to the shoulder with Velcro and controlled by three operators, was designed to explode in a controlled manner and could be easily folded back for repeat shots. The right arm was severed from Weller's body by a monofilament wire. A detailed, articulated replica of Weller's upper body was used to depict Boddicker shooting Murphy in the head. A mold of Weller's face was made from foam latex that had been burned to make it rubbery and fleshy, and placed over a fiberglass skull containing a bloodstain and explosive charge. The articulated head was controlled by four puppeteers and had details of sweat and blood. A fan motor attached to body made it vibrate as if it were shaking with fear. A bullet in his skull was wired to the trigger of Smith's gun to synchronise the effect.
Emil's melting mutation was inspired by the 1977 science-fiction film The Incredible Melting Man . Bottin designed and constructed Emil's prosthesis, creating a foam latex headdress and matching gloves that gave the impression that Emil's skin was melting "off his bones like marshmallow sauce". A second piece, which depicted further degradation, was applied to the first. Dupuis painted each piece differently to emphasize Emil's progressive degradation. The gesso was applied to an articulated mannequin that depicted Emil being hit by Boddicker's car. The head was freed to fly away; it accidentally rolled onto the hood of the car. The effect was completed by Emil's liquefied body (raw chicken, soup and sauce) washing over the windshield. The same mannequin represents RoboCop when he is crushed by steel girders (painted with wood). Verhoeven wanted RoboCop to kill Boddicker by stabbing him in the eye, but felt that efforts to create this effect would be futile due to fears of censorship.
The fatal fall of Dick Jones is depicted by a stop-motion Cox puppet animated by Rocco Gioffre. Limited development time forced Gioffre to use a foam rubber puppet with an aluminum skeleton instead of a higher quality articulated version. This was composed against a matte painting of a street by Mark Sullivan. The murder of OCP director Mr Kinney in ED-209 was filmed over three days. Page's body was covered with two hundred sketches, but Verhoeven was not satisfied with the result and brought him back a few months later to film it in a studio reconstruction of a boardroom. Page was again covered with more than 200 gems and plastic bags filled with spaghetti and fake blood. Page described intense pain as each detonation of the squibs was like a blow from a fist. In the cocaine warehouse scene, Boddicker's stuntman was thrown through glass panes fitted with a detonating cord that shattered a microsecond before impact. Gelatin capsules filled with sawdust and a sparkly mixture were fired at RoboCop from an air gun to create the effect of bouncing bullets.
RoboCop
Bottin was tasked with designing RoboCop's costume. He researched the character C-3PO from Star Wars and her stiff costume, which made it difficult to move. Bottin was also influenced by the robot designs in the films Metropolis (1927), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and several comic book superheroes. Based on feedback from Verhoeven (who advocated a more machine-like character), he developed some 50 designs before finally settling on an elegant aesthetic inspired by the work of Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorajama. Verhoeven admitted his unrealistic expectations after reading the Japanese science fiction manga; it took him a while to realize this, which contributed to the costume's delay.
The scope of RoboCop's costume was unprecedented, with its design and production exceeding both cost and schedule. The costume took six months to build, using flexible foam latex, semi-rigid and fully rigid polyurethane, and a fiberglass helmet. The moving parts were connected by aluminum and ball bearings. The costume is supported by an internal harness of hooks, allowing for continuous movement during action scenes. Seven costumes were made, including a fireproof version and costumes depicting permanent damage. Reports of their weights range from 25 to 80 pounds (11 to 36 kg). RoboCop's Auto-9 weapon is a Beretta 93R with an extended barrel and a larger handle. It has been modified to fire blanks, and ventilation holes have been cut into the side to allow for multi-directional muzzle flashes with each three-shot burst.
ED-209
Models of the ED-209 used for the animation by Phil Tippett, Randal M. Dutra and Harry Walton
Due to the budget for developing the ED-209, Tippett made preliminary sketches and hired Davies to design a full-scale model, which was constructed with the help of Paula Lucchesi. Verhoeven wanted the ED-209 to look bad, and felt that Davies' early designs lacked a "killer" aesthetic. Davies was influenced by killer whales and the US Air Force's LTV A-7 Corsair II aircraft. He approached design with a modern American aesthetic and a corporate design policy that he believed favored appearance over functionality, including excessive and impractical components. He did not add eyes because he thought they would make the ED-209 more sympathetic. The fully articulated fiberglass model took four months to build, cost $25 000, was 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, and weighed 300 to 500 pounds (140 to 230 kg). Hundred-hour work weeks took their toll, and Davies minimized the details of the ED-209's legs because he thought they would not be shown. The model was later used on promotional tours.
Davies spent the next four months building two 12-inch (30 cm) miniature replicas for stop motion animation. The two small models allowed for more efficient animation and filming of scenes, saving time in completing the 55 shots needed in three months. Tippett was the chief animator for ED-209, assisted by Randal M. Dutra and Harry Walton. Tippett conceived of ED-209's movement as "non-animal," as if it were about to fall before catching itself. To complete the character, the droid was given the roar of a leopard. Davison provided a temporary voice-over for ED-209's speaking voice, which was retained in the film.
Further effects and designs
RoboCop features seven matte effects, mostly painted by Gioffre. Each matte was painted on masonite. Gioffre supervised the filming on location to disguise the camera in the spot where the matte is inserted, and recalled having to climb off a five-story ledge to get the right shot of the Plaza of the Americas. RoboCop's polished steel logo was created using photographic effects that supervisor Peter Kuran created based on a black-and-white sketch from Orion. Kuran created a scaled-down matte version and backlit it. A second pass was made with aluminum sheet behind it to create reflective details. RoboCop's vision was created using hundreds of ink lines on acetate folded over existing footage. Several attempts had to be made to get the lines the right thickness; initially the lines were too thick or too thin. With the assumption that thermal imaging would be expensive, Kuran replicated thermal vision using actors in body stockings painted with thermal inks and filmed the scene with a polarizing filter on the lens. RoboCop's mechanical rechargeable chair was designed and built by John Zabrucky of Modern Props. The OCP Delta City boardroom model was built under the supervision of art director Gayle Simon.
The police cars in the film are 1986 Ford Taurus models painted black. The Taurus was chosen for its futuristic, aerodynamic design for the first year of production. The car was to feature a modified interior that would display graphic displays with photos of the perpetrators, fingerprints, and other related information, but the concept was deemed too ambitious. The 6000 SUX car driven by Boddicker and others was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, modified by Gene Winfield and based on a design by Chip Foose. Two working cars were made, with a third, non-functioning, used when the vehicle exploded. A plasticine dinosaur appeared in an advertisement for the 6000 SUX, animated by Don Waller and blocked by Steve Chiodo.
Release
Context
Industry experts were optimistic about the cinematic summer of 1987 (June-September). The season focused on genre films - science fiction, horror and fantasy - that have proven to bring in sales, if not respect in the industry. Other films - such as Roxanne, Full Metal Jacket and The Untouchables - were aimed at older audiences (over 25) who had been ignored in recent years by films aimed at teenagers. The action comedy Cop from Beverly Hills II was expected to dominate theaters, but many other films were expected to do well, including the action adventure Ishtar, the comedies Harry and The Hendersons, Who's That Girl and Spaceballs, the action film Predator and sequels such as Superman IV: Quest for Peace and The Living Daylights, the latest film about James Bond.
Along with the musical La Bamba, RoboCop was predicted to be a sleeper hit. Prior to its release, it received positive reviews, including positive industry screenings (considered a rarity) and preview screenings that demonstrated the studio's confidence in the film.
Marketing
Marketing the film was considered difficult. Jack Mathews for the Los Angeles Times called RoboCop "a terrible title for a movie that anyone would expect adults to like". Orion's chief marketing officer Charles Glenn said it has "some responsibility ... it sounds like 'Robby Robot' or Gobots or something else. It's nothing like that." The campaign began three months before the film's theatrical release, when 5 000 trailers were sent to theaters targeting adult and family audiences. Orion promotions director Jan Kean said children and adults have responded positively to the RoboCop character. Miguel Ferrer recalled that the audience in the theater of the trailer laughed derisively, which he found disheartening. Models and actors in fiberglass RoboCop costumes appeared in cities across North America. The character has appeared at motorcycle races in Florida, at a laser show in Boston, in the subway in New York City, and children could have their picture taken with her at Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles.
An unrated, incomplete version of the film was screened for critics, which was unusual for an action film. Glenn's reasoning was that critics who favored Verhoeven's previous work would have appreciated RoboCop. The response was universally positive, providing quotes for promotional materials and making the film one of the highest-rated films of the year so far. The week before the premiere, there were television commercials and limited screenings in public theaters. In the UK, the film was released without cuts, which the BBFC justified by the comic excess of violence and clear line between the heroes and villains.
Box office
RoboCop began wide distribution in North America on July 17, 1987. During its opening weekend, the film grossed $8 million in 1,580 theaters - an average of $5 068 per theater. It became the weekend's number one film, ahead of the 1937 animated re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ($7.5 million) and the horror sequel Jaws: Retaliation ($7.2 million), which also opened in its first week. RoboCop retained the top spot i its second weekend with another $6.3 million ahead of Snow White ($6.05 million) and debuting comedy Summer School ($6 million). In its third weekend, the film was the fourth highest-grossing film with $4.7 million, behind La Bamba ($5.2 million) and the debuts of horror films The Lost Boys ($5.2 million) and Living Daylights ($11.1 million).
RoboCop never returned to the top spot, but stayed in the top 10 for six weeks. At the end of its theatrical release, the film grossed approximately $53.4 million and was a moderate success. It was the fourteenth highest grossing film of the year behind Crocodile Dundee ($53.6 million), La Bamba ($54.2 million) and Dragnet ($57.4 million). Data on the film's performance outside North America is not available.
Partly due to higher ticket prices and additional week of summer theatrical release, 1987 reached a record $1.6 billion at the box office and broke the previous record of $1.58 billion set in 1984. Unlike that summer, which produced several blockbusters such as Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom, the summer of 1987 produced only one: the Beverly Hills II cop flick. But the other films (including RoboCop) did modestly and grossed a combined $274 million - 50 % more than 1986. The average age of audiences continued to increase, as films aimed at teenagers, such as RoboCop and Beverly Hills II Cop, saw a 22% drop from 1986's similar films. RoboCop was one of the summer's surprise successes and contributed to Orion's improved fortunes.
Reception
Critical Reviews
RoboCop had universally positive reviews in theaters. According to CinemaScore audience surveys, audiences gave the film an average grade of A- in theaters.
Critics noted the film's influence on the action from the films Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986) and the stories from the films Frankenstein (1931), Repo Man (1984) and the television series Miami Vice. Two reviewers wrote that RoboCop created a distinct futuristic vision of Detroit, much as Blade Runner created a vision of Los Angeles. A number of critics have struggled to determine the film's genre and have written that it combines social satire and philosophy with elements of action, science fiction, thriller, western, slapstick comedy, romance, snuff film, superhero comic, and camp without being derivative.
Some publications considered Verhoeven's direction clever and darkly comic, offering a biting social satire that, in the hands of another director, would have been a run-of-the-mill action film, according to The Washington Post. Others, such as Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader, felt that the film was overdirected and Verhoeven's European filmmaking style lacked rhythm, tension and momentum. According to a Chicago Reader review, Verhoeven's typical proficiency in portraying the "sleazy psychological" through the physical failed to adequately exploit RoboCop's "Aryan blandness." The Washington Post and Roger Ebert praised Weller's performance and his ability to evoke sympathy and convey chivalry and vulnerability, even when hidden beneath a bulky costume. Weller offered a certain beauty and grace, The Washington Post reviewer wrote, that gave him a mythic quality and made his murder even more gruesome. By contrast, to the Chicago Reader, Weller "barely registered" behind the mask. Variety quoted Nancy Allen, who provided the only human warmth in the film, and Kurtwood Smith as a well-cast "perverted sadist."
Many reviewers noted the violence in the film. For Ebert and the Los Angeles Times, it was so over the top that it became deliberately comic, with Ebert writing that ED-209 killing the CEO subverted audience expectations of a seemingly serious and straightforward science fiction film. A Los Angeles Times reviewer felt that the violent scenes simultaneously conveyed sadism and poignancy . Other reviewers were more critical, including Kehr and Walter Goodman, who felt that RoboCop's satire and critique of corporate corruption were an excuse to indulge in violent visuals. According to the Chicago Reader, the violence had a "brooding, agonizing quality ... as if Verhoeven were both horrified and fascinated by it" and according to The Christian Science Monitor, the critics' praise for the "vile" film showed a preference for "style over substance."
Kehr and The Washington Post said the film's satire of corporations and conflation of corporate executives and street thugs is the film's most successful achievement, depicting their unchecked greed and callous ruthlessness with witty criticism of game shows and military culture. Some reviewers praised the film's adaptation of the classic story of a tragic hero seeking revenge and redemption, with the Los Angeles Times writing that the typical clichéd revenge story was transformed by making the protagonist a machine who is constantly subject to humanity, emotion, and idealism. The Los Angeles Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer found RoboCop's victory satisfying because it offered a tale of a decent hero fighting corruption, villains and the theft of humanity, with morality and technology on his side. The Washington Post agreed that the "heart" of the film is the story of Murphy regaining his humanity: "[G]iven the fact that all of our flesh-and bone heroes fail - from stockbrokers to ballgamers - we need a man with dignity, a real straight shooter who doesn't play Phi Beta Kappa and never shoves anything under his nose. This world needs a RoboCop."
Awards
RoboCop won the Special Award for Best Sound Editing (Stephen Flick and John Pospisil) at the 60th Academy Awards. The film had two other nominations, Urioste (losing to Gabriella Cristiani for the drama The Last Emperor) and Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios, Aaron Rochin and Robert Wald (losing to Bill Rowe and Ivan Sharrock for The Last Emperor) for Best Sound. In a comedy skit at the event, RoboCop's character was saved by Pee-wee Herman's ED-209 presenter character.
At 42. annual British Academy Film Awards, RoboCop received two nominations:
Best Makeup and Hairstylist Carla Palmer (losing to Fabrizio Sforza for The Last Emperor) and Best Special Visual Effects Bottin, Tippett, Kuran and Gioffre (losing to George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston and Edward Jones for the 1988 fantasy film Who Framed Roger Rabbit). At the 15th annual Saturn Awards, RoboCop was the most frequently nominated film. It won awards for best science fiction film, best director for Verhoeven, best screenplay for Neumeier and Miner, best makeup for Bottin and Dupuis, and best special effects for Kuran, Tippett, Bottin and Gioffre. The film received three more nominations, including those for Best Actor (Weller) and Best Actress (Allen).
After its release in theaters
Home Media
RoboCop was released on VHS in early 1988 and its sales were estimated at $24 million. Orion promoted the film by having former United States President Richard Nixon shake hands with an actor in a RoboCop costume. In return, Nixon received $25 000, which he donated to the Boys Club of America. The film RoboCop was very popular and topped the rental charts in mid-March 1988. Demand for rentals outstripped supply; it was estimated that there was one copy of the film on VHS per 100 households, making it difficult to find new releases such as Dirty Dancing, Predator, and Platoon. The longest waiting list was for RoboCop. The film was released on S-VHS in 1988, as one of the first films to adopt the format, and was offered free with the purchase of branded S-VCR players.
The extended violent content removed from the American theatrical release was restored on LaserDisc from the Criterion Collection, which included audio commentary by Verhoeven, Neumeier, and Davison. An uncut version of the film has also been made available on other home media. It was released on DVD by Criterion in September 1998. In June 2004, the DVD version was released in a trilogy box set with RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993). This release included featurettes on the making of the film and the design of RoboCop. An 20th anniversary edition was released in August 2007, which included the theatrical version and uncut version of the film, previous supplements, and new featurettes on special effects and villains.
The planned 2006 Blu-ray debut by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment was cancelled days before release because reviews pointed to poor picture quality. A new version was released in 2007 by Fox Home Entertainment with no additional features. Reviews suggested that the visual quality of the film had improved, but the picture was still perceived as grainy or too dark. In October 2010, the trilogy was released as a box set on Blu-ray disc.
In 2013, the film was restored in 4K resolution from the original camera negative by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for MGM's 90th anniversary the following year. The restoration was approved by Verhoeven, Neumeier and Davison and released on Blu-ray in January 2014. In 2019, a two-disc limited edition Blu-ray set was released by Arrow Video, which included collector's items (poster and cards), new commentaries by film historians and fans, deleted scenes, new featurettes with Allen and casting director Julia Selzer, and a theatrical release, extended and TV cut of the film. In 2022, Arrow re-released this set on Ultra HD Blu-ray, which included uncut scenes rescanned from the negative to match the quality of the cinema cut scans.
Other Media
RoboCop was considered easier to market than other R- rated films, and despite its violent content, its merchandise was aimed at a younger audience. Merchandise included cap guns and other toys, comic books, theme park rides, novels, and RoboCop Ultra Police action figures, which were released along the 1988 animated series RoboCop. At the time of the film's theatrical release, Marvel Comics had released a black-and-white comic book adaptation of the film without the violence and adult language, a video game was in the works, and negotiations were underway to release T-shirts, additional video games, and RoboCop dolls by Christmas. The poster for the movie, drawn by Mike Bryan, was reportedly more popular than the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, and the novel, written by Ed Naha, saw a second edition in July. Since its theatrical release, RoboCop continues to be sold in the form of collectible figures, clothing and cookware. In 2014, the book RoboCop: The Definitive History was published, detailing the RoboCop franchise.
The RoboCop story continued in comic books, initially from Marvel. The film adaptation was reprinted in color to support the 23-issue series, which ran from 1987 to 1992, when the rights were transferred to Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse published a number of miniseries, including RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1992), which pitted RoboCop against Skynet and his Terminators from the Terminator series. The story was well-received and other series followed, including Prime Suspect (1992), Roulette (1994), and Mortal Coils (1996). The RoboCop series was continued by Avatar Press (2003), Dynamite Entertainment (2010), and Boom! Studios (2013).
Several games based on or inspired by the film have been released. A side-scroller of the same name was released in 1988 for arcades and has been ported to other platforms, such as the ZX Spectrum and Game Boy. In 1994, RoboCop Versus The Terminator, an adaptation of the comic book of the same name, was released. RoboCop, a first-person shooter from 2003, was poorly received and led to the closure of the development company Titus Interactive. RoboCop: Rogue City (2023) continues the story of RoboCop and takes place between RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3.
Thematic Analysis
The Power of Corporations
The central theme of RoboCop is the power of corporations. Those depicted in the film are corrupt and greedy, privatizing public services and gentrifying Detroit. Miner, a self-described hippie who grew up during the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War, was critical of Ronald Reagan's pro-business policies and believed that Detroit had been destroyed by American corporations. The Detroit presented in the film is described as a city plagued by rape, crime, and "Reaganomics gone awry," where gentrification and unfettered capitalism lead to a war on corporations as the police become a profit-driven entity. Miner said rampant crime is mainly a Republican or right-wing fear, but RoboCop blames drugs and crime on advanced technology and privatization of public services such as hospitals, prisons and police. Although the script included criticism of Reagan-era policies, Verhoeven did not understand urban policies such as prison privatization. According to Weller, the trickle-down economics pushed by Reagan was "bullshit" and did not work fast enough for those who needed it.
Michael Robertson described the media breaks throughout the film as a direct criticism of Reagan's neoliberal policies. Robertson took aim at OCP's claim that it has privately owned RoboCop even though it uses Murphy's corpse. The old man was based on Reagan and s corporate policy emphasizes greed and profit over individual rights. The police force is deliberately underfunded and the creation of RoboCop is intended to replace it with a more efficient department. Jones admits it doesn't matter if ED-209 works because they have contracts to supply parts for years in advance. He conspires with Boddicker to corrupt the workers brought in to build Delta City with drugs and prostitution. Davison thought the film was politically liberal, but the violence makes it "fascism for liberals." It takes a pro-worker stance; the police chief, believing the necessity of his service, refuses to strike, but the underfunded, underemployed and assaulted officers eventually quit. The OCP sees the strike as an opportunity to develop more robots.
Humanity and death
Another central theme is the question of what is humanity and how much of Murphy in RoboCop is left. Neumeier wanted to leave the audience asking "what is left of Murphy" and described the character's journey as coming to terms with his transformation. As a police officer, Murphy works for a corporation that insists it owns individuals on a waiver basis and can do whatever it wants with Murphy's remains. But he is doing the right thing and fighting the demands of his corporate masters. Despite his inhuman appearance, RoboCop has a soul, experiences real human fears, and has an underlying consciousness that makes him more than a machine. Brooks Landon, however, claims that Murphy is dead; although he remembers Murphy's life, RoboCop is not (and can never be) Murphy and regain enough humanity to return to his family. Dale Bradley writes that RoboCop is a machine that mistakenly believes itself to be Murphy because of its composite parts, and only believes that it has a human spirit in itself. An alternative view is that RoboCop's personality is a new construct, partly informed by fragments of Murphy's personality. Slavoj Žižek describes Murphy as a man between life and death, who is both dead and animated by mechanical parts. When he regains his humanity, he changes from programmed by others to his former state as a being of desire. Žižek calls this return of the living dead a basic human fantasy, a desire to avoid death and take revenge on the living.
Murphy's death is protracted and violent, allowing the audience to perceive RoboCop as imbued with the humanity that the Boddicker Gang and OCP took from him. Verhoeven felt it was important to acknowledge the innate darkness of humanity in order to avoid the inevitable mutual destruction. He was influenced by his childhood experiences during World War II and the inhumane acts he witnessed. Verhoeven believed that the concept of the unsullied hero died after the war and subsequent heroes had a dark side that they had to overcome. Describing the difference between making films in Europe and America, Verhoeven said that the European RoboCop would explore the spiritual and psychological problems of RoboCop's condition; the American version focuses on revenge. He incorporated Christian mythology into the film; Murphy's brutal death is analogous to the crucifixion of Jesus before his resurrection in the form of an American RoboCop who walks on water in a steel mill and wields a gun. Verhoeven said he does not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, but "[sees] the value of the idea, the purity of the idea. So from an artistic point of view, it's absolutely true". The scene where RoboCop returns to Murphy's house is likened to finding the Garden of Eden or a similar paradise.
Brooks Landon describes the film as typical of the cyberpunk genre because it does not consider RoboCop better or worse than the average person (just different) and asks the audience to consider him a new life form. The film does not consider this technological advancement as necessarily negative, just as an inevitable result of progress that will change people's lives and their understanding of what it means to be human. The character of RoboCop embodies humanity's struggle to embrace technology. The central actors have no romantic interests or overt sexual desires. Paul Sammon described the scene where RoboCop shoots bottles of baby food as symbolic of the relationship that he and Lewis can never have. Taylor agreed with him, but felt that the confrontation between Morton and Jones in the OCP bathroom was sexualized.
Manhood and authority
Vince Mancini describes the 1980s as a period when movie heroes were unambiguously good, as depicted in films that promote suburban life, materialism and unambiguous villains, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Back to the Future (1985). Some films of this decade send the message that authority is good and trustworthy, but RoboCop shows that those in authority are flawed and Detroit has been carved up by greed, capitalism, and cheap foreign labor. Weller described RoboCop as an evolution of the uptight heroes of the 1940s, such as Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart, who lived honorably; modern audiences now cheer for the crippled cop who takes brutal revenge.
Susan Jeffords considers RoboCop to be one of many "hard body" films of the decade, depicting perfect, strong, masculine characters who must protect "soft bodies": the incompetent and weak. RoboCop displays strength by eliminating crime and redeeming the city through violence. Bullets bounce harmlessly off his armor; attempts to attack his crotch (a typical weak point) only injure the attacker, demonstrating the uncompromising strength and masculinity needed to eliminate crime. According to Darian Leader, to true masculinity requires adding something unnatural to the biological body. RoboCop's body contains technology, a symbolic addition that makes him something more than the average man.
Link
Cultural Influence
RoboCop is considered a groundbreaking achievement in the science fiction genre. Unlike many protagonists of the time, the central character of the film is not a robot-like human who is stoic and invincible, but a robot-like human who is afflicted with a loss of humanity. In an interview in 2013, following Detroit's bankruptcy and designation as the most dangerous place in the United States, Neumeier spoke of the film's prescience: "We now live in the world that I proposed in RoboCop...how big corporations will take care of us and...how they won't." Verhoeven called RoboCop a movie that was ahead of its time and could not be improved by digital effects. Weller said the filming experience was one of the worst in his life, mostly because of the RoboCop costume. Verhoeven also considered filming RoboCop a miserable experience, partly because of special effects problems and other things that went wrong. Ferrer, however, called it the best summer of his life.
The film's impact was not limited to North America, and Neumeier recalled finding unlicensed RoboCop dolls for sale near the Colosseum in Rome. He said many robotics labs use the prefix "Robo" for projects with reference to the movie, and because of his involvement in the movie RoboCop, he was hired as a consultant to the United States Air Force for futuristic concepts. In the years immediately following the film's release, Verhoeven capitalized on his success by directing the science fiction film Total Recall (1990, also with Cox) and the erotic thriller Basic Instinct (1992). He also collaborated with Neumeier on the tonally similar science fiction film Starship Troopers (1997). Scott Tobias of the Guardian wrote in 2020 that, in retrospect, RoboCop was the beginning of Verhoeven's unofficial sci-fi trilogy about authoritarian government (followed by Total Recall and Starship Troopers). Cox, who has previously been typecast as someone who plays moral characters, credits RoboCop with changing his image and -along with the Beverly Hills Cop movies-for boosting his film career, making him one of the most iconic villains of the decade.
The characters of RoboCop, ED-209 and Clarence Boddicker are considered iconic. Lines like RoboCop's "Dead or alive, you're coming with me", ED-209's "You've got 20 seconds to comply" and TV host Bixby Snyder's "I'd buy that for a dollar" are among the film's most famous lines. The film has been referenced in various media, from television (including Family Guy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Red Dwarf, South Park, and The Simpsons) to movies (including Hot Shots! Part Deux and Ready Player One) to video games (Deus Ex and its prequel Deus Ex: Human Revolution). Doom Eternal (2020) creative director Hugo Martin cited it as an inspiration. RoboCop (with the voice of Weller) is a playable character in the fighting game Mortal Kombat 11 (2019). The character inspired the design of the Nintendo Power Glove (1989) and in 2019 appeared in a KFC commercial (again with Weller's voice) and in 2020 in a Direct Line commercial with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bumblebee.
On the 30th anniversary of the release of RoboCop in 2017, Weller attended a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at Dallas City Hall (in his hometown) and called the film a tribute to the city. In August 2023, the crowdfunding documentary RoboDoc was released: The Creation of RoboCop. It chronicles the creation and influence of RoboCop and features interviews with many of the actors and crew members who participated in the film. A statue of RoboCop is to be erected in Detroit. It was first proposed in 2011 and $70 000 was crowdfunded to build it. The idea for the 10-meter (3.0 m) statue was supported by Weller and agreed to by the owner of the rights to RoboCop, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). In 2024, the statue was completed and awaiting installation.
Modern take
RoboCop is hailed as one of the best science fiction and action films of all time and one of the best films of the 1980s. Several publications have ranked it among the best action films of all time: on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 92% rating based on 85 reviews, with an average score of 8.1/10. According to the site, "RoboCop is an over-the-top and gory, but surprisingly clever sci-fi film that uses ultraviolence to mask its satire of American culture." Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 139th on its list of 200 essential films to watch and one of 300 essential films. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of a possible 100 based on 17 "generally favorable reviews". In 2000, The New York Times ranked it among the 1,000 "greatest films of all time" and Empire magazine ranked it 404th on its list of the 500 greatest films of all time.
Filmmakers have expressed appreciation for RoboCop and cited it as an inspiration in their own careers, including Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Neill Blomkamp and Leigh Whannell, and Ken Russell, who called it the best science fiction film since Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was among the action films recommended by director James Gunn.
A sequel and adaptation
In November 1987, Orion gave the green light to the development of a sequel aimed at a PG rating, which would allow children to see the film unaccompanied by adults, and following the 12-part animated series RoboCop, released by Marvel Productions in 1988. Neumeier and Miner began writing the film, but after refusing to work during the American Screenwriters Association strike in 1988, they were fired and replaced by Frank Miller, whose second draft produced RoboCop 2 and first draft produced the second sequel, RoboCop 3. Weller reprised his role in the first sequel, directed by Irvin Kershner, which was released to mixed reviews and estimated to have lost money.
RoboCop 3, directed by Fred Dekker, was aimed at a younger audience that was driving merchandise sales. Weller was replaced in the title role by Robert John Burke, and Allen returned for the third and last time in the series as Anne Lewis. The film was a critical and financial failure. In 1994, a live-action television series was released, but it had a poor critical reception and was cancelled after 22 episodes. The series, starring RoboCop Richard Eden, used aspects of Neumeier and Miner's ideas from RoboCop 2. A second animated series, RoboCop: Alpha Commando, followed in 1998. Page Fletcher starred as RoboCop in the four-part live-action miniseries RoboCop: Prime Directives (2001). The series, set ten years after the events of the first film, ignores the events of the sequel. After years of financial difficulties, Orion and the rights to RoboCop were bought by MGM in the late 1990s.
The 2014 reboot of the first film, also called RoboCop, was directed by José Padilha and starred Joel Kinnaman. The film received mixed reviews but was a financial success. Verhoeven stated that it "should be dead" before attempting a reboot, and Allen felt that the "iconic" film should not be remade. It has been announced that RoboCop Returns, a sequel to RoboCop that ignores the other films in the franchise, will be in the works in 2022. The film is to be directed by Abe Forsythe, who is rewriting a script written by Neumeier, Miner and Justin Rhodes.
Source: Wikipedia
