“Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.” When it comes to the RoboCop Ip, most fans of Paul Verhoeven’s stone-cold classic 1987 genre-blender would probably choose dead. It’s like Jurassic Park, where a genius original film gave birth to a cash-cow enterprise that never even really came close to the high quality that was initially shown out of the gate. Intelligent, violent, and loaded with antagonists that were just as memorable as the protagonist, RoboCop was not just one of 1987’s best films, it was one of the ’80s absolute top-tier action movies.
The difference is, RoboCop was never really the cash cow that Jurassic has repeatedly proved itself to be. So, when it was announced that James Wan was set to executive produce a Robocop reboot series for Amazon, questions arose as to why. After all, 1990’s RoboCop 2 (directed by The Empire Strikes Back‘s Irvin Kershner) didn’t quadruple its price tag the way Verhoeven’s film did, and even if it’s aged well, it still doesn’t hold a candle to the brilliant satirical power of the IP’s Kickstarter.
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Then there’s Fred Dekker’s 1993 sequel RoboCop 3, which performed about as well financially as the second movie but was eviscerated by critics and fans alike. The main criticism? A PG-13 rating simply does not fit what is supposed to be an ultra-violent, tongue-in-cheek look at what amounts to a futuristic hellscape where greed runs rampant.
This was a lesson not learned back in the early ’90s when the IP had its first shot at small-screen success. Specifically, after RoboCop 3 failed to take off, a bankrupt Orion Pictures licensed a television series. Crafted by the independent Canadian studio Skyvision Entertainment, RoboCop (1994) made the mistake that trilogy-capper made and attempted to cater to a younger audience.
In fact, it very much feels like a sibling product to that maligned third film, even if it doesn’t embrace the trilogy’s continuity or feature any of the film’s stars. So, in the end, the TV version was bashed for the same reason the third film was. Though, to its credit, the TV version had They Live and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Roddy Piper in an episode, which must count for something.
This taming-down criticism carried on when José Padilha’s bone-dry 2014 reboot hit theaters with a whimper. It wasn’t the incoherent mess that RoboCop 3 was, but it simultaneously proved that incoherence could be more memorable than a project with no interesting new ideas and a group of A-listers who seem to be dreaming about being in a better movie. In short, it wasn’t seemingly playing directly to younger audiences, but its PG-13 rating still made it a bland actioner.
Padilha’s movie seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for the IP, until the 2023 video game RoboCop: Rogue City netted surprisingly strong reviews and even got Peter Weller back to voice the title character. But don’t expect Weller in the Amazon reboot, as its logline—”A giant tech conglomerate collaborates with the local police department to introduce a technologically advanced enforcer to combat rising crime…”—indicates it will be another attempt to build the franchise from the ground up.
Yet, in all fairness, there’s reason to be excited for this one. On one hand, Wan is like Jordan Peele in that, when he’s a producer on something, you can actually detect his touch on the project. Secondly, showrunner/writer Peter Ocko has served those two roles on some of the aughts and 2010s’ best series, including but not limited to The Office, Pushing Daisies, The Leftovers, and Black Sails.
The former two projects show that he can tackle the satirical element of RoboCop while the latter two (to varying degrees) show that he can display equal comfort when it comes to violent material. Not to mention, since it’s an Amazon series, it’s not burdened with catering to the masses via aiming for a PG-13 rating.
In fact, it’s highly unlikely the Robocop reboot will do anything besides go for a tone in line with the first two films. In other words, the small screen is now an avenue to let RoboCop truly be RoboCop, so let’s just hope those behind the series can stick the landing where others have stumbled before.
Amazon’s Robocop series is in development.