What They Said: Robocop's New Look, 'Battle: Los Angeles' Sequel and a 'Back to the Future' Reboot from 'Harold & Kumar' Duo?

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Robocop's New Look: If we were to ask you “what’s the most iconic thing about the character Robocop?” we suspect many of you would mention his appearance. Peter Weller donned some bulky metal armor when he was brought back from the dead in Verhoeven’s film – and the centerpiece of that get-up was his shiny headpiece and visor. Apparently, that headgear will not be turning up in the sequel.

Star Joel Kinnaman broke the news to MTV while out doing press for the second season of AMC’s The Killing, stating that director Jose Padilha is aiming to make a much more human film. Apparently, since Padilha’s father was a scientist, the new Robocop is aiming to ground itself in something much closer to reality than Verhoeven’s original – and that means making Alex Murphy more human – even when he’s part machine.

As such, Kinnaman says there will be no “jaw action” in his portrayal. While the suit hasn’t been finalized, the headpiece will be see-through, allowing the audience to see Robocop’s eyes. We’re going to withhold judgment on whether this is a good or bad thing until we see the actual costume design, but we hope Padilha treads lightly – Robocop is an iconic character and hardcore fans will be sure to voice their displeasure if the new version deviates too far from the original in terms of appearance.

Battle: Los Angeles Getting a Sequel: Last year’s Battle: Los Angeles wasn’t a huge hit at the domestic box-office (it made $83 mil, with a production budget of $70 million), but it did do pretty well overseas – where it took in an additional $128 million in box office receipts. Apparently, that’s enough money to have Sony consider making a sequel.

Collider recently caught up with director Jonathan Liebesman while he was doing press forWrath of the Titans, and the filmmaker had this to say:

“We’ve just started the script now, so that’s where we are. We have just begun the script. Just because I don’t want the studio to get pissed at me, I’m not sure what I can and can’t say about it. But what’s exciting is it sounds like the budget will be as big. They’re really going to make it an event.”

While a Battle: Los Angeles sequel isn’t officially a done deal, it seems like Sony is at least open to the possibility of continuing this franchise. Now the question is where does the Battlego next? We’re voting for Hoboken – Hollywood doesn’t make enough movies about that place.

Back to the Future Reboot Talk: Early buzz for Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg’sAmerican Reunion has been positive – and Universal has rewarded the duo by giving them a two-year production deal and offices on the studio lot.

With all of the love floating around between both parties, Hurwitz and Schlossberg are already imagining what Universal property they can develop next – and they’re dreaming big according to these quotes via Moviehole.

“We want Back to the Future, just come out and say it”, Hurwitz nudges Schlossberg into admitting. “That’s our favourite trilogy. We’re always having this conversation…”

The duo loves the series, but admit they’re a little bit terrified of messing it up.

“I wouldn’t want to do it now because people would be like, ‘Oh, there’s no way it will be as good as the original.’ But 30 years from now when Spielberg’s like 90 and those guys are kind of on their way out, and those movies just look really old because we’re watching movies that are old, literally in two dimensions or something, it would be great to have all these classics that you’re able to remake,” says Schlossberg.

Schlossberg and Hurwitz are also in agreement that they’d both prefer to do a sequel rather than a reboot, but feel like the films’ ties to specific time periods may make that harder to pull off.

While we certainly like these guys’ work, we have to admit that we don’t really want anyone else tackling Back to the Future. What do you guys think? Share your thoughts below.

UPDATE: Jon Hurwitz took to Twiter to update this Back to the Future reboot rumor: ".. the truth is, we were joking around and it was taken out of context. Nobody respects BTTF more than us. It all started with us talking about how as diehard Karate Kid fans, we were furious when KK was being remade.Then it got into a conversation about the business of remakes. And we talked about how KK proved that nerds like us make up such a small portion of the public and people embraced KK. Then we talked about how for business reasons all classics will one day be remade. We speculate BTTF will one day be remade, because its so fucking awesome the world needs those stories, but if it were to be remade, we hope its WAAAAAY in the future. We were totally joking when saying we wanted it."

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