Yeah. A couple days behind on this but still worth mentioning. One of the biggest surprises was the come out of nowhere District 9 by Neill Blomkamp. The little film that could, it did gangbusters at the box office and presented Blomkamp as a legitimate genre filmmaking threat on only his first go. It wasn't a question of 'if' but 'when' Blomkamp would be given another chance to prove that he's got the goods to deliver another hit.
Media Rights Capital has committed to the next film by "District 9" writer-director Neill Blomkamp. The untitled sci-fier will begin production by the middle of next year. MRC is giving Blomkamp creative freedom and a production commitment that isn't contingent on domestic distribution. The director and Block will get an ownership stake in the finished product. "MRC is letting me make the film I want to make, and that is by far the most important thing here," Blomkamp told Daily Variety. "The film will hopefully be commercial, but it is very much a singular film, (one) that comes directly from me." Blomkamp will immediately start writing and preparing the visual effects.
Expectations will be high and Blomkamp will be under a lot of scrutiny by fans and industry watchers. We'll just have to wait and see what his sophomore effort will be like.
Media Rights Capital has committed to the next film by "District 9" writer-director Neill Blomkamp. The untitled sci-fier will begin production by the middle of next year. MRC is giving Blomkamp creative freedom and a production commitment that isn't contingent on domestic distribution. The director and Block will get an ownership stake in the finished product. "MRC is letting me make the film I want to make, and that is by far the most important thing here," Blomkamp told Daily Variety. "The film will hopefully be commercial, but it is very much a singular film, (one) that comes directly from me." Blomkamp will immediately start writing and preparing the visual effects.
Expectations will be high and Blomkamp will be under a lot of scrutiny by fans and industry watchers. We'll just have to wait and see what his sophomore effort will be like.
Wonder how large the budget will be this time. I hope he doesn't become one of those directors who needs a bigger budget each time he makes a movie.
Since MRC is known for making (relatively) low-budget films (from a Hollywood standpoint, at least), I doubt it will be significantly higher than District 9, but I bet he'll be thrown in the neighborhood of $50 million for this one. While I hope he doesn't become accustomed to needing such high budgets, I also have faith he'll take advantage of what he's given. He's already proven he doesn't need big-name (or any-name) actors to create a hit.