It’s pretty much assumed these days that Hollywood movies with ambiguous endings have a sequel in the pipeline. The science fiction film, District 9, opened in the US on August 14 2009, taking $37 million in the first weekend. It cost $30 million to make, a modest sum by today’s standards, so the profit projections look extremely good, making a science fiction sequel a distinct possibility. The critics’ response has been positive too. Director and co-writer on the project, Neill Blonkamp, has been quoted saying he would like to make a sequel if his film does well, possibly calling it District 10.
| |
StarReviews Top 3
Movie Ticket Websites |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Science fiction movies are meant to be seen on the big screen and the genre is always a favorite, particularly with a youngish male audience. Blonkamp is not a household name yet and has a background in making shorts.
District 9 is based on one of those shorts, called Alive in Joburg. The attachment of Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings director) as one of the producers has helped to give District 9 credibility.
The film is set in 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Blonkamp was born. This background has inspired him to create a futuristic world with apartheid and racial tension as a theme. A notorious area in Cape Town named
District 6 was declared 'whites only' with the forcible removal of the black population during the apartheid era. Blonkamp has taken these historic events and woven them into a plot concerning aliens, made believable with visual effects and prosthetics.
The extraterrestrials come to Earth in their intimidating spaceship, arriving in a malnourished state. They are nicknamed 'Prawns' because of their appearance and forced to live in a government camp, no better than a slum, which is
District 9. They do however, possess advanced technology and weapons. Blonkamp has combined a thoughtful story with action sequences. The MPAA have given it an R rating.
It appears that the unknown director and largely unknown cast (Sharlto Copley, Simon Hansen, and Shanon Worley) will not hold this movie back. The major poster campaign leading up to its release has played its part. As we know, studios can throw a $ zillion budget and big stars at a film and it can flop disastrously. No amount of money can compensate for poorly written characters and storyline.
District 9, and perhaps followed by
District 10, may turn out to be a hit franchise with any number of
science fiction sequels and spin-offs. George Lucas may look on in envy.