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Neill Blomkamp Reveals ‘District 10’ Screenplay in the Works

Jamie Lang
·3-min read

“District 9” and “Elysium” director Neill Blomkamp has revealed that he and writing partners Sharlto Copley and Terri Tatchell are in the process of writing the screenplay for “District 10,” the long-awaited follow-up to South Africa’s biggest box office hit.

“District 10 screenplay also being written by @sharlto (Sharlto Copley) @territachell (Terri Tatchell) and I. It’s [sic] coming…” said Blomkamp in a tweet on Friday.

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In 2009, “District 9,” produced by TriStar Pictures, Block/Hanson and WingNut Films, grossed $211 million worldwide, the largest-ever sum for a South African film. It received four Academy Award nominations, including best picture and original screenplay for Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. Rumors have swirled ever since about the possibility of a sequel, and the film’s ambiguous final act seemed to imply there is more story to be told.

Blomkamp has stayed busy during the pandemic. In addition to teaming with Copley and Tatchell on the sequel, he took advantage of downtime when his sci-fi thriller “Inferno” was briefly sidelined by the pandemic to shoot a horror film over the summer in British Columbia, Canada.

Now, AGC has started screening “Demonic” to buyers, platforms and distributors in the run-up to Berlin’s European Film Market. Blomkamp initially planned to shoot “Inferno,” with Taylor Kitsch attached to star, in late 2019. AGC Studios had boarded the project and agreed to fully finance and produce the film, but the pandemic upended those plans, so they turned their attention to “Demonic.”

Copley also has a number of projects in the mix. The actor is headlining Toney Stone’s “Ted K,” where he plays the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. The film is based on Kaczynski’s own diaries and testimonies from those who interacted with him during his years of isolation in the Montana wilderness. Hanway Films and Cinetic Media represent the film, which will screen in Berlin’s Panorama section. Hanway reps the film internationally and Cinetic in North America.

In a 2017 Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Blomkamp explained why a sequel hadn’t yet been announced, while leaving the door wide open for the possibility.

“Ok, so with ‘District 10’ the basic answer is yes,” he replied to the AMA’s most upvoted question. “I want to go back to that world and tell rest of the story with Wikus and Christopher. The issue right now is that I have many other projects and ideas that I also want to work on and complete…..and most importantly, the exact right REASON to make District 10 needs be very clear. The first film was based so explicitly on real themes and topics from South Africa that effected [sic] me greatly growing up there, that we need to make sure the next film does not forget that.”

Blomkamp is repped by ICM Partners.

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