(Image: TriStar Pictures)
Following a report from Screen Geek late last month that Sony Pictures was quietly developing a new "Starship Troopers" film with blockbuster ambitions, The Hollywood Reporter has now exclusively confirmed a major development: the studio has hired "District 9" director Neill Blomkamp to write and direct the project.
(Image: TriStar Pictures)
Additionally, THR reports that the new film will not be a remake of the 1997 cult classic directed by Paul Verhoeven ("Total Recall"). Instead, it will be a fresh adaptation based directly on the original 1959 novel by the late, celebrated sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein.
This is far from Sony's first attempt to revive the "Starship Troopers" franchise. Back in 2010, reports surfaced of a new film adaptation aiming for greater fidelity to the source material, but the project never materialized. More recently, in 2021, original star Casper Van Dien revealed that Sony's television division had been developing a new series, which was ultimately shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Image: IMDb)
Blomkamp is no stranger to tackling established sci-fi properties, though his track record has been fraught with challenges. He was previously attached to a new "Alien" film that would have served as a direct sequel to the first two installments, a "RoboCop Returns" that would have followed the original movie, and a live-action "Halo" adaptation. All of these high-profile projects were eventually scrapped. Whether his new take on "Starship Troopers" can escape a similar fate remains to be seen.