No, Neill Blomkamp Isn't Making A 'Chappie' Sequel

Any way you slice it, Chappie was a dud. It put in a meager showing at the box office and brought director Neill Blomkamp some of the worst reviews of his career. And though it's got some defenders, they haven't really coalesced into anything you'd call a cult following. But in case you were still wondering about the prospects of a Chappie sequel, Blomkamp is here to put those questions to rest: no, you should not expect to see a Chappie 2 anytime soon. 

Apparently, Blomkamp spent this past weekend getting repeated questions about Chappie 2 from one very devoted fan (or one prankster who is very devoted to his gag). Eventually, the filmmaker responded.

(Yes, that is the real Blomkamp, and no, we don't know why he's not verified.)

I don't think anyone saw Chappie 2 as a realistic possibility, for all the reasons I named at the top of this post. But you never know these days — sometimes it feels like everything gets a sequel, even if no one asked for one, and even if the first film's reception was tepid at best. So if you've been holding onto some faint hope that we'll get to see more of Chappie's evolution from robot baby to gangster robot baby, well, now might be the time to stop holding your breath.

Which is probably for the best. Chappie was Blomkamp at his most frustrating — all big ideas, unique visuals, and ambitious worldbuilding undermined by shoddy screenwriting. I don't see how making another movie set in the same confusing universe with the same annoying characters would help. And besides, Blomkamp himself is tied up with other projects. He recently put out The Escape, the latest BMW short film starring Clive Owen, and has been working on some sort of mystery project while waiting for his Alien movie to get back off the ground.