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Irony, thy name is Amazon. Long before Iron Man ever arrived on the scene in his fancy metal suit and arsenal of deadly weapons, director Paul Verhoeven had already perfected the art of lampooning America’s obsession with hyper-militarized heroes acting as agents of the state with “RoboCop.” Action fans ought to be well familiar with how the 1987 classic had one of the first (and arguably final) words on the rise of the police state in modern society in modern genre fiction, telling the story of a sinister mega-conglomerate named (what else?) Omni Consumer Products violently spearheading the newest technological horror: taking a dead cop killed in the line of duty, resurrecting him in the disturbing “body” of a metallic droid, arming it to the teeth, and setting it loose upon the streets of a futuristic Detroit. What could possibly go wrong!
Now, decades after becoming one of the most celebrated pieces of satire ever made, the most ironic of all studios is now setting its sights on another adaptation of the famous property.
Variety indicates that a new “RoboCop” television series is currently in the works by Amazon Studios (you know, the film-based division of the multinational conglomerate Amazon, of course) and has now settled on its lead creative … while a very familiar face has also come on board as an executive producer. Peter Ocko has reportedly joined the production as a writer, executive producer, and showrunner while horror mastermind James Wan will serve as executive producer. A longtime veteran of TV, Ocko has previously written for projects such as “The Office,” “Elementary,” and “Black Sails,” though this will be by far his most significant credit. More details below!
Amazon is in the RoboCop business, for better or worse
Before anyone bemoans the idea of another adaptation ruining the purity of “RoboCop,” allow me to remind you about the existence of the various sequels, reboots, video games, and comic books over the years. (The last was the 2014 remake that sort of just came and went, while we haven’t heard anything from the planned “RoboCop Returns” movie after Neill Blomkamp parted ways years back.) The franchise has well and truly been milked to within an inch of its life in the decades since the original first blasted its way onto the scene, to be fair, but this latest news marks the most significant attempt yet to bring back “RoboCop.” Here’s how Amazon, a giant tech conglomerate, describes the series in the official logline:
A giant tech conglomerate collaborates with the local police department to introduce a technologically advanced enforcer to combat rising crime — a police officer who’s part man, part machine.
Yup, that pretty much sums up this property’s whole deal! Actor Peter Weller brought the title character to life in the original movie to spectacular results, making it a fair question to wonder how anyone could possibly improve upon what’s already been done. There’s no word on any casting details at this early point in development, nor on any directors who may join the series for however many episodes it runs for. All this became possible when Amazon purchased MGM Studios back in 2022, setting us up for an endless amount of IP-mining attempts from the closest real-world equivalent we have to Omni Consumer Products. Now, I’m not saying Jeff Bezos is a perfect stand-in for the unnamed, cutthroat CEO in the original (played by Daniel O’Herlihy) but, well, allow me to point out that Amazon currently has a lucrative contract with the Department of Defense. What a world.
Stay tuned for more updates on this “RoboCop” series as they arrive!
