According to the director of District 9 and Elysium, the screenplay for District 10, the sequel to the 2009 sci-fi hit is in development. Neill Blomkamp is teaming up with partner Terri Tatchell and Sharlto Copley, who starred as Wikus van de Merwe in the original, to write the screenplay.
“District 10 screenplay also being written by @sharlto (Sharlto Copley) @territachell (Terri Tatchell) and I. It’s [sic] coming…” Blomkamp tweeted on Friday.
In 2009, District 9, which was produced by TriStar Pictures, Block/Hanson and WingNut Films, grossed $211 million worldwide and received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Original Screenplay for Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell.
The film, based on Blomkamp's 2006 short film Alive in Joburg, examines themes of xenophobia and social segregation in an alternate 1982 when an alien spaceship hovers over the South African city of Johannesburg, carrying over one million malnourished aliens. After the South African government decides to relocate the aliens to a refugee camp called District 9, locals begin to question the their existence.
District 9 is based on the real-life District 6, an urban area in Cape Town that was declared a "whites only" zone by the South African government in 1966. As a result, 60,000 residents were forcibly removed to Cape Flats, an area 16 miles away from the city.
In a 2017 Reddit AMA, Blomkamp was asked about the possibility of a sequel. “Ok, so with ‘District 10’ the basic answer is yes. 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,” he answered.
“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 affected me greatly growing up there, that we need to make sure the next film does not forget that,” he added.
Although no date has been set for the production of District 10, it will presumably start filming after Blomkamp completes work on The Inferno, an action-thriller shot in British Columbia last summer that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Variety