2009's District 9 was a surprise hit for everyone. Based on Neill Blomkamp's 2006 short film Alive in Joburg, the South African filmmaker took the helm of the big budget adaptation which went on to receive critical acclaim, four Academy Award nominations, and $210.8 million at the box office (On a mere $30 million budget). The first one focused on a space ship, carrying weakened insectoid aliens, appearing over Johannesburg, South Africa. The local government then places them in an internment camp for 20 years before a bureaucrat named Wikus van der Merweon (Played by Sharlto Copley) appears to relocate the population. That is...until Wikus becomes infected by a substance that slowly begins to turn him into one of the aliens. And while I'll save the details for anyone still curious about seeing this indie gem, I will say that a sequel was very much set-up. One that never came to pass...until now.
Today, Blomkamp has confirmed that he is currently penning the script for the long-awaited follow-up District 10. In the tweet, he wrote the following:
“District 10 screenplay also being written by @sharlto (Sharlto Copley) @territachell (Terri Tatchell) and I. It’s [sic] coming…”.
Terri Tatchell co-wrote the first film's script alongside Blomkamp while Copley starred, but since then has been featured in nearly all of Blomkamp's works including his two immediate follow-up films to District 9 (Elysium and Chappie) along with two of the short films produced by Blomkamp's studio Oats Studios.
Whether the sequel can live-up to the fanbase of the first film is anyone's guess, but at least the questions that the first film left audiences with will finally be answered. Stay tuned!
10 years too late.
Aren't we living in district 10? And I'm sure the aliens will come soon as well...