The Kidd here...
It's been nothing but disaster for Jose Padilha's remake of ROBOCOP. From the scathing review of the screenplay (I've since heard it was of an early draft, so who knows what changes may have been made to get to what's in production right now) to the shots of a less than impressive RoboCop suit to rumors of heavy studio interference with the director's vision for the film, it's been one problem after another for this retelling, and it looks like it's only going from bad to worse.
Sony and MGM have yanked ROBOCOP from its previous August 9, 2013 release date, pushing the film all the way back to February 7, 2014. Of course, this is going to get spun as allowing more time for post-productions, visual effects rendering, etc., but don't let that fool you. I've heard from sources that ROBOCOP has some major problems that are going to be virtually impossible to correct, because they're built into the story they're trying to tell. I'd expect this extra time to be used for some pretty hefty reshoots to be added onto the schedule, as the studio tries to piece together some semblance of a film, much like Paramount did with WORLD WAR Z, but it may be too late to really course correct the film without trashing what they've already got in the can and starting all over. And you can bet that's not going to happen, because the last thing these two studios are going to do is close up shop and chalk up their poor decisions to a loss. You'd think the studios would have learned right now when they're investing so much money into some of these bigger budget films to make sure they have a good movie on their hands first before they rush it into production. Staking your claim on a release date doesn't matter much, when the film being released is garbage. Then again, the box office numbers prove people will see the garbage anyway, so, unless there's a shift at the cash register, there's no incentive for that model to be changed.
As a result of the ROBOCOP shift, Neill Blomkamp's ELYSIUM is also getting moved around the calendar. While we were all set to see Blomkamp's newest film since DISTRICT 9 on March 1, we have no choice but to wait a little bit longer now, with Sony/Tri-Star pushing ELYSIUM back to that August 9 release date vacated by the ROBOCOP debacle.
Doesn't it feel like no one's winning in this equation?
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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