A new report claims that Sony is indeed developing a new Starship Troopers with director Neill Blomkamp writing and directing the film.
At the end of February it was rumored by Frank Palmer at ScreenGeek that Sony was developing a remake. He reported, “Sony has plans to produce a remake of the 1997 film Starship Troopers, itself based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein.”
Now, a report from Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro shares “that a Starship Troopers is happening at Sony, with District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp writing and directing.”
He also detailed that the film will “go back to the 1959 source material by Robert A. Heinlein and not be based on the 1997 Paul Verhoeven movie.”
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If you are unfamiliar with the 1997 film it starred Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, and Clancy Brown as members of the United Citizen Federation defending humanity from a ruthless invasion of bug-like aliens attempting to eradicate all of human life. It was directed by Paul Verhoeven with a script by Edward Neumeier and based of off Robert Heinlein’s novel.
The film had a $105 million product budget and only grossed $121 million when it released. However, it spawned a number of spin-offs and sequels including Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder as well as Starship Troopers: Invasion and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars.
The movie was also recently the subject of online debate with novelist Isaac Young arguing that it failed as a parody noting that the protagonists are attractive badasses, the world they are fighting for is clean and beautiful, and their enemies are ugly bugs.
He would go on to observe that the ensuing debate that erupted around his observations provided an insight into the way Leftists operate specifically “that facts are not enough to win the discourse. No amount of evidence will ever win the Twitter discourse. In fact, to bring evidence is often playing in their hands because no argument is bulletproof.”
Young also noted that the Leftists made a massive rhetorical misstep when they began identifying with the bugs, “What worked, however, were the tens of thousands of Leftists aggravated into openly siding for the bugs. The memes were far more effective than the actual arguments over the movie because they exposed where the Left’s priorities were. It was never about Starship Troopers. It was about their hatred for healthy modes of human existence.”
What do you make of Sony tapping Neill Blomkamp to adapt Heinlein’s Starship Troopers novel?
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Nice, that guy generally directs decent movies, so maybe it will be good. The old Starship Troopers movie is a fun popcorn flick, but it makes a mockery of the book. A return to the source material would be greatly appreciated.
Why couldn't we have just got the ending to district 9