Neill Blomkamp leaves Robocop sequel due to his work on a mysterious horror film

Neill. Neill! First, Neill Blomkamp saw his Alien sequel fall apart, leaving us with Ridley Scott’s exhausting Prometheus mythology. Now, the District 9 director has revealed he’s also bailing on his promising Robocop sequel. It was roughly a year ago that MGM revealed Blomkamp would helm a version of the sequel Robocop writers writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner originally wrote in the ‘80s. He even offered some enthusiastic updates back in June, saying the film would be like “watching Verhoeven do a follow up film.”

Last night, Blomkamp took to Twitter to say he was “off Robocop” due to his work on a “new horror/thriller” that apparently conflicts with MGM’s desire to get Robocop Returns. No announcement has been made as of yet about who will take the reins from the director.

That said, we remain intrigued by what this mysterious thriller might turn out to be, even if we weren’t crazy about Blomkamp’s Elysium or Chappie. If you’re in mourning, however, might be recommend the X-rated version of Robocop? Or the oddly moving theme song for its Game Boy adaptation?