Will They Ever Release District 10?
District 9 hasn't stopped capturing the hearts and minds of audiences around the world. But what of its rumored sequel, now 14 years in the making?
Transcript
00:00 District 9 hasn't stopped capturing the hearts and minds of audiences around the world.
00:05 But what of its rumored sequel, now 14 years in the making?
00:09 While a follow-up to District 9 rested on the film's box office success, a worldwide
00:13 gross of $210 million quickly made that a non-issue.
00:18 Director Neil Blomkamp started suggesting a possible sequel before the original film
00:22 had even opened, and between 2009 and 2012, both he and star Charlto Copley expressed
00:28 their hopes for a follow-up.
00:29 But as District 9 reached theaters, Blomkamp was already committed to finishing an unrelated
00:34 script, which would become his controversial 2013 feature Elysium, casting Copley as one
00:39 of the film's villains.
00:44 Blomkamp then directed his 2015 sci-fi film, Chappy, another divisive yet moderate success.
00:51 Through the next several years, rumors continued to swirl about the future of the characters
00:55 Vickis Van Der Merwe and Christopher Johnson, while Blomkamp went on to other projects,
01:00 canceled entries for the Alien and Robocop franchises, his Oat Studios short film collection,
01:05 and the religious horror sci-fi film, Demonic.
01:08 In August 2023, bolstered by the pre-release buzz around Blomkamp's newest film, Gran
01:13 Turismo, Copley and Blomkamp addressed the possibility of creating District 10.
01:18 Copley and Blomkamp have offered few specifics about what they have in mind for any follow-ups
01:22 to District 9, with Blomkamp at one point suggesting he might even create a prequel
01:26 instead.
01:27 According to Copley, as of 2022, they've both completed early drafts of District 10,
01:33 but he remained cagey on any specific details.
01:36 Copley also hinted in that interview that the story could rely on current sociopolitical
01:40 events that Blomkamp wasn't ready to address, but he might be up to the task in the months
01:44 after Gran Turismo hits theaters.
01:47 Copley, meanwhile, has added District 9 co-writer Terry Tatchell to the pre-production mix.
01:52 A 2021 interview with IGN suggested that Blomkamp is looking to a specific but unidentified
01:58 event in American history from which to build a new politically-themed sci-fi movie, rather
02:02 than revisit the apartheid scene in District 9.
02:05 How that connects with Copley's hints isn't clear, but it leaves everything on the table.
02:10 From America's contentious history of slavery, its troubled attitude towards immigration,
02:15 and its flirtations with authoritarian leadership.
02:18 The biggest thing fans seem to want from District 10 is the return of Christopher after he's
02:22 made contact with the rest of his people.
02:24 The chain reaction from that event would see the transformed Vickis at the mercy of Christopher
02:28 and whatever forces at his back, benign or otherwise.
02:32 Assuming District 10 is still Vickis' story to some extent, with the working title suggesting
02:36 that the heart of the story would unfold in this new district, we might even see Vickis
02:40 struggling with his wishes to ever be human again.
02:43 Vickis has been in his alien form for a long time, and while his wife loves and misses
02:47 him, she seems to be the only one.
02:50 So if the aliens make a better offer, who knows what will happen.
02:53 As to the rest of the story, what the aliens will think of how Earth has treated its people
02:57 is an obvious hook, along with a look at the aliens' actual social hierarchy.
03:01 "We have stranded on Earth, and this colony is basically the workers."
03:06 But there's an outside chance that District 10 will focus on a Vickis that's been left
03:09 behind with the rest of the denizens of his district.
03:12 That could turn the sequel into an underdog fight for acceptance and better treatment,
03:17 maybe even an Amistad for aliens.
03:19 Vickis, with his knowledge of both species, could be a perfect focus here.
03:23 As Copley is already invested in shaping a final script with Blomkamp, it's safe to
03:27 assume that he and his feckless character Vickis will return.
03:31 Further assuming that any part of the story deals with another alien arrival, Jason Cope,
03:36 the man behind Christopher, is also likely to return.
03:39 Vanessa Haywood, who plays Vickis' wife Tanya, is another safe probability.
03:43 Beyond that, District 9 had a fairly high death toll, and with the typical risks of
03:48 corporate turnover, the hierarchy of the munitions group, Multinational United, might undergo
03:53 a lot of change before returning.
03:55 That said, it's possible that MNU's CEO, played by William Allen Young, hung onto his seat
04:00 in the aftermath of the Vickis incident.
04:02 However, it's fairly unlikely that the Nigerian gangs will reappear in a similar fashion.
04:07 Due to the controversial, real-world response to their depiction as criminals and cannibals
04:11 in District 9.
04:13 Fans have been chomping at the bit to see District 9's plot threads tied up since 2009.
04:18 It's not hard to do a Reddit search and find fresh discussion threads every few weeks noting,
04:23 in awe, how well the movie holds up, while also expressing an eagerness for more.
04:27 There's often added frustrations at the projects Blomkamp didn't land, and scripts that could
04:32 have blended his style with other franchises these same fans know and love.
04:36 Blomkamp's abandoned Alien project is a singular source of that frustration.
04:40 As concept art has been released in the years since its cancellation, it's become clear
04:44 that it was going to render everything after Alien 3 non-canonical and bring back both
04:48 Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn.
04:50 As more information has come to light, it's continually gutted fans.
04:54 If the movie, or even Blomkamp's take on Robocop, had been produced, it might have
04:59 eased the sting of the long wait for District 10.
05:01 Instead, fans are waiting for Gran Turismo to finish its lap around the track to see
05:06 if Blomkamp is finally ready, and able, to return to familiar territory.
05:10 But with critics mixed with Sony's big-budget ad for their video game franchise, it may
05:15 take a big boost from fans and friends to get him there.
05:18 This uncertainty was recently compounded when, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter
05:23 in August of 2023, Blomkamp claimed, "I don't know if it's getting made or not.
05:28 I don't know if I even want to make that right now.
05:31 But at some point down the line, it'll probably get made."
05:33 - Blomkamp
05:34 "I don't know if I even want to make that right now.
05:35 But at some point down the line, it'll probably get made."
05:36 - Blomkamp
05:37 "I don't know if I even want to make that right now.