‘RoboCop’ Reboot Director Calls KFC’s New Commercials a “Problem”

KFC’s new marketing campaign sees the fried chicken fast food company depicting its Colonel Sanders mascot embracing the look of RoboCop, a staple of sci-fi cinema of the ’80s. Neill Blomkamp, who will be directing the upcoming RoboCop Returns, recently weighed in on the absurd commercials.

When a fan shared an image of the marketing campaign’s poster and tagged the director, Blomkamp shared the image with his followers while noting “yeah this is a problem.” While this isn’t RoboCop’s only foray into bizarre and family-friendly promotions, it’s the most recent appearance of the deadly cop in a mainstream promotion, causing much confusion from viewers across social media.

The last official entry in the franchise came in 2014 with an installment that was PG-13. Ed Neumeier, a producer on the new film, offered an update on the upcoming film earlier this year, noting that Blomkamp aims to embrace the violent nature of the original films.

“Neill Blomkamp and his screenwriter Justin Rhodes have done a pass on the script we were writing on and they’re doing another one. It is a slightly different concept in some ways than we were originally doing,” the producer shared with HN Entertainment. “I don’t want to talk too much about it or somebody will call me and tell me to shut up, but we’re hopeful and I think Neill really really wants to make a good RoboCop movie. His idea is that it should be the proper Verhoeven… if Verhoeven had directed a movie right after RoboCop… I think that’s what he is trying to achieve and I hope he does. We’ll see what happens next.”

It is currently unclear if the promotions released by KFC is hinting at a long-term campaign featuring RoboCop or if the already released ads are the extent of the promotion.

Stay tuned for details on RoboCop Returns.

What do you think of the director’s remarks? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

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