Neill Blomkamp Wants District 9 Sequel To Be "Stripped-Down" And "Bare Bones" Like The Original

Director Neill Blomkamp has shared an update on the long-awaited sequel to District 9, saying in an interview that he wants it to be "as stripped-down and bare bones" as possible.

Blomkamp was asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he wants to film District 10, or whatever the sequel is called, on a similar size and scale of the 2009 original, and he said that's the plan. Working on this basis allows the team to be more "nimble and creative," which Blomkamp is a fan of.

"I think the approach of the first film is correct; it's just really a question of the script. If there's slightly more stuff happening in the script, then you need slightly more money," he said. "But I think it would still be as stripped-down and bare bones as we could make it. That becomes more nimble and more creative, and personally, I like that."

District 9 was produced on a modest budget of $30 million. The movie was filmed in South Africa with The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson on board as its producer. In fact, Blomkamp and Jackson were originally set to make a Halo movie, but after it fell apart, they created District 9 instead--to great success.

Blomkamp, who was also in the running to direct new Alien and RoboCop movies, said in the interview that he personally prefers projects that are not based on massive franchises.

"I think I feel more at home with ideas that are not based on large IP. Just fresh stuff, basically. It's probably wise because there's less pre-existing knowledge of what people think the IP should be," he said.

Blomkamp followed up District 9 with Elysium (2013) starring Matt Damon and then the dystopian sci-fi movie Chappie in 2015. His next film is a horror title called Demonic, which releases on August 20.