District 9 Sequel Is Finally Happening?
It looks like the District 9 sequel could be coming sooner than later Neill Blomkamp giving an interesting update about the film.
It’s hard to believe that we are now almost 13 years since District 9 hit the big screen back in 2009. It seemed like we are going to get a sequel in a rather quick succession, but that didn’t end up happening at all and it’s been more than a decade of starts, stops, and rumors on whether a District 9 sequel, District 10 would ever actually become a thing. It looks like we can get at least a bit more hopeful about and around the prospects though with writer and director Neill Blomkamp coming out recently to assure fans that there was still something very much in the works.
According to Dexerto, Neill Blomkamp still has his eyes set on a District 9 sequel and gave a vague, but promising update about where it stands in the production cycle. While he didn’t go into any great (or really any) detail about the prospects, he did say, “I am still working on it… the answer is it’s within the near future.” This is better than an outright dismissal and for sure sounds like someone who could even be cautiously optimistic about the movie happening, or at least being confirmed, in the relatively short future. That’s more than we’ve had on this front in quite some time and could be a sign that the sequel is on its way.
Of course, this talk of the District 9 sequel has been happening basically since even before the original movie hit the big screen. There was an enormous amount of hype for District 9 at the time, looking to be possibly even one of the next big sci-fi franchises. So much so that Neill Blomkamp even said before the initial release that he would think about a sequel if the movie was well-received. On that front, the director got what he wished for and even more.
District 9 was a box office hit at the time, pulling in almost $211 million dollars on its $30 million budget, a pittance for sci-fi movie at the time. And from a critical perspective, the movie won the day as well, hitting 90% on Rotten Tomatoes with reviews praising the tone and message of the movie which was very clearly about aliens coming to Earth. Those two things would have made it seem a District 9 sequel was coming sooner than later.
Because District 9 was much more than just standard science-fiction fare, aliens coming to Earth, and all that well-tread nonsense. This was a movie very much about humanity and the crisis happening here on our planet related to racism, classism, and even apartheid. It flipped the narrative of the standard alien invasion film, making the aliens the outsiders and the humans the bad guys. It was so different and insular, an achievement at the time that made the District 9 sequel seem like a foregone conclusion.
And it isn’t like it was District 9 sequel or bust for Blomkamp. He’s released Elysium, Chappie, and Demonic since then, so the director has been busy enough. But it would be cool to return to this world for a District 10 before it’s all said and done.
