After ‘District 9’ it felt like Neill Blomkamp wouldn’t be able to do wrong though each of his following films has had very mixed responses. The one in particular that he was disappointed with was 2013 release of ‘Elysium‘ and the director wants to revisit the film with a sequel because he feels that he “can do it better.”
After ‘Chappie‘ also fell short to critics and the box office, this sequel might be a gamble that studios aren’t eager to take. But after reading his thoughts on it, this is a prospect I hope would see the light of day. While I didn’t love what he did with ‘Elysium’, the concept itself was solid and there was a lot of potential world-building which took place.
When talking about a potential sequel, here is what the director had to say:
“Elysium is more something I feel like I could have done better. I think that if you were to take something like Elysium and play with it inside a setting like this [his Oats Studios short films] you probably would hone it – you would end up, I think, with something well thought through and that has all of the thematic elements that I wanted. I still love the set up to Elysium. The idea of the separation of class warfare presented with this space ring is incredibly appealing to me and I would love to go back and make another movie in the world of Elysium because it’s compelling. I just think I can do a better job in setting up what the themes are more clearly and what the character’s motivations are. I can do it better, I think.”
Maybe it is because I love the manga of ‘Battle Angel Alita’ which has many of the same themes to it, but this is a film I would be eager to see. My only concern is that he seems to feel that the character’s motivations weren’t obvious and, if anything, they might have been a little too drilled into audiences. Outside of that, the idea is solid though James Cameron is already planning on helping bring a ‘Battle Angel Alita’ live-action film so if this doesn’t see the light of day, I won’t be crushed.
Would you want Blomkamp to re-visit the world of ‘Elysium’ with a sequel? Do you think he might have misjudged the problems with the audience not understanding character motivations as a key issue with the film? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Slash Film
