District 10 - Is It Happening?

Neill Blomkamp's "District 9" put the fledgling South African director on the mainstream map in 2009. With a $30 million budget and "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson in his corner as a producer, Blomkamp expanded his fascinating social sci-fi short film "Alive in Joburg" into a feature-length discussion about racial divisions and the violence inherent in anti-immigration sentiments.

Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) learns in the hardest way possible what South Africa's alien newcomers, derisively called "prawns," have been going through at the hands of men like him. With stunning effects and CGI characters, the film ends on a tailor-made hook for a follow-up. His ally, the alien Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope), promises to return with a cure for Wikus in three years, although it's unclear if he'll also return with an angry force at his back. Meanwhile, a fully transformed Wikus languishes at the new District 10 camp, memories of his humanity and previous life seemingly intact.

Christopher Johnson's promise has now rung hollow for over a decade. But Blomkamp fans haven't yet lost hope. Nor should they, as it turns out.

A follow-up to "District 9" rested on the film's box office success, but with a gross of $210 million worldwide, that quickly became a non-issue. Blomkamp started suggesting a possible sequel before the film even opened, and from 2009 to 2012, both he and star Sharlto Copley talked about their hopes for a near-future follow-up. As "District 9" reached theaters, Blomkamp was already committed to finishing an unrelated script. That turned out to be "Elysium," a controversial but fun Matt Damon sci-fi vehicle that cast Copley as a villain.

Blomkamp then directed "Chappie" (2015), another divisive but moderate success. Rumors continued to swirl about the future of Wikus and Christopher, but in 2015, the next train to derail their return emerged: an unrealized "Alien" project that was set aside, unfortunately, in favor of Ridley Scott's own return with "Alien: Covenant."

The next several years brought more near-misses, as Blomkamp went back to his original short film format with his Oats Studio collection, worked on a failed RoboCop project, and delivered the inexplicably bad religious horror sci-fi film, "Demonic." Sharlto Copley and Blomkamp addressed the possibility of "District 10" as recently as August 2022, bolstered by the pre-release buzz around Blomkamp's newest film, "Gran Turismo."

The South African duo have offered few specifics about what they have in mind for any follow-ups to "District 9," with Blomkamp at one point suggesting he might even go in the direction of a prequel. According to Copley, as of 2022, they've both completed early drafts of "District 10," but he remained cagey on any specific details. Copley did hint in that interview that the story could rely on socio-political current events that Blomkamp wasn't ready to address yet, but might be up to the task in the months after "Gran Turismo" hits theaters. Blomkamp, meanwhile, has added "District 9" co-writer Terri Tatchell to the pre-production mix.

An interview with IGN in July, 2021 suggests that Blomkamp is looking to a specific but unidentified event in American history from which to build a new politically-themed sci-fi movie, rather than revisit Apartheid. How that connects with Copley's hints of current events isn't clear but it does leave everything, from America's contentious history of slavery, its troubled attitude towards immigration, and its flirtations, past and present, with authoritarian leadership, on the table.

The biggest thing fans seem to want from "District 10" is the return of Christopher Johnson after he's made contact with the rest of his people. The chain reaction from that event would see the transformed Wikus at the mercy of Christopher, and whatever forces, benign or otherwise, at his back. Assuming "District 10" is still Wikus' story to some extent — and the working title itself suggests that the heart of the story would unfold in the new district — that might see Wikus struggling with if he even wishes to be human again.

He's been in his alien form for a long time, and while his wife (Vanessa Haywood) loves and misses him, she's the only one. If the "prawns" make a better offer, who knows? As to the rest of the story, what the aliens will think of how Earth has treated its people is an obvious hook, along with the aliens' actual social hierarchy.

Of course, there's an outside chance that "District 10" could focus on a Wikus that's been left behind with the rest of the denizens of his district. That could turn the sequel into an underdog fight for acceptance and better treatment, an "Amistad" for aliens. Wikus, with his knowledge of both species, would be a perfect focus here.

As Sharlto Copley is already invested in shaping a final script with Blomkamp, it's a lock that he and his feckless character, Wikus, will return. Assuming that any part of the story deals with another alien arrival, Jason Cope is also likely to return as Christopher Johnson. Vanessa Haywood, as Wikus' wife, Tania Smit-van de Merwe, is another safe probability.

Beyond that, "District 9" had a mighty death toll, and the real-life risks of corporate turnover mean that the hierarchy of munitions group MNU might undergo a lot of change before returning. That said, MNU's CEO was played by William Alan Young, and it's possible he hung onto his seat in the aftermath of the Wikus incident. It's unlikely, due to the controversial response to their depiction, that the Nigerian gangs will reappear in a similar fashion.

Who won't appear? No offense to Blomkamp, nor to the memory of "Chappie" to the few of us that enjoyed it, but pigs will launch of their own free will before South African Zef band Die Antwoord returns to a Blomkamp set. In addition to years of bleak allegations of abuse and assault, anonymous reports say that Waddy Jones, aka Ninja, was hell to work with on "Chappie."

Fans have been agitating to see the plot threads from "District 9" tied up since 2009. It's not hard to do a Reddit search and find fresh discussion threads every few weeks noting, in awe, how well the movie holds up, and an eagerness for more. There's often frustration at the projects Blomkamp didn't land, and scripts that could have blended his detailed, hyper-violent style, with franchises these same fans know and love.

Blomkamp's "Alien" project is a singular source of that frustration. Rendering everything after "Alien 3" non-canon — to David Fincher's probable relief — and bringing back both Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn, as the released concept art showed, the cancellation gutted fans of both sci-fi franchises. If that, or Blomkamp's take on "RoboCop" had been produced, it might've eased the sting of the long wait for "District 10."

With few reviewers enthused with Blomkamp's 2023 outing "Gran Turismo," a big-budget ad for Sony's video game franchise, it may take a big boost from fans and friends to get him back for another blockbuster. The filmmaker spoke briefly about "District 10" to The Hollywood Reporter while promoting "Gran Turismo" in August of 2023, saying, "I don't know if it's getting made or not. I don't know if I even want to make that right now, but at some point down the line, it'll probably get made."