RoboCop Remake Gets a Release Date

According to Bloody Disgusting, the long-rumored Jose Padilha remake of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 sci-fi thriller RoboCop has been given a release date of August 9, 2013. As the writer of that article says, "I guess it's actually happening!" The original RoboCop, starring Peter Weller of Psych and Buckaroo Banzai fame, was so successful that it spawned a series of sequels (two of which were written by comics luminary Frank Miller), TV series and video games as well as comic book and toy tie-ins. The live action (film and television) portion of the franchise has been inactive since 2000, when RoboCop: Prime Directives--a USA Network miniseries--landed with a thud. The franchise nevertheless has left a mark on the city of Detroit; when a fan launched a Kickstarter campaign in early 2011 to crowd-fund the building of a statue of RoboCop in the city he called home (in the movies), it exceeded its fundraising goals within days and Peter Weller himself appeared in a Funny Or Die video encouraging the efforts. Weller won't star in the Padilha remake, though; that honor will go to Joel Kinnaman, star of AMC's The Killing (itself a remake of a Danish television show of the same name). Those who have seen the show will know that Kinnaman has the attitude, but will need some time to bulk up for the role.