For those holding onto any semblance of hope that Neill Blomkamp would get the gang back together for a Chappie sequel, we have some bad news; responding to one fan’s onslaught of questions about a potential follow-up, the South African filmmaker stated in no uncertain terms that Chappie 2 is essentially off the table.
First spotted by the folks at /Film, Blomkamp posted a screenshot to Twitter, revealing that over Thanksgiving weekend his inbox became inundated with requests for Chappie 2. Whether these are the musings of one very, very devoted fan or simply a prankster/troll berating the director on a whim, the verdict remains clear:
ahhahaa , ok. can someone explain to @sethstewart165 that chappie 2 is not happening. I don’t seem to be able to. STOP ASKING ME pic.twitter.com/giELoKwOe9
— Иeill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) November 28, 2016
Though it’s attracted its defenders through time – one of which being Sigourney Weaver herself – Chappie failed to resonate much with critics or fans, and a meagre box office haul of $102 million capped off a forgettable endeavour for all involved. Following District 9 and Elysium, it’s fair to say that expectations were relativity high going into Blomkamp’s third feature film, but one-note characters and clunky storytelling resulted in a gritty sci-fi feature that became less than the sum of its parts – all big ideas and CGI brilliance riddled with narrative shortcomings, which is a criticism that’s loomed over the director’s output since that monolithic alien ship left Johannesburg’s skyline at the tail-end of District 9.
Looking beyond Chappie, one project that Neill Blomkamp has become attached to is the as-yet-untitled Alien 5. It’s currently languishing on the back-burner at Fox so as to leave the field open for next year’s Alien: Covenant, but all involved remain optimistic that the sequel can kick into gear at some point down the line.
