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Rebooted 'Robocop' to tackle modern anxieties over drone warfare, director says

Rebooted 'Robocop' to tackle modern anxieties over drone warfare, director says

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A rebooted Robocop will explore what happens when war machines start to be used for domestic peacekeeping, according to a panel this week at Comic-Con. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony and MGM showed off the first footage of the new film on Friday, revealing an update to the 1987 classic that uses the current anxiety over drones to raise questions about how they might be employed by local police departments.

"We are more and more in a country where Robocop is relevant. You will see robots in wars," said Jose Padilha, the film's director. "The first film saw it way back then. Now we have more knowledge and we know it's coming true. First we are going to use machines abroad, then we are going to use machines at home."

We are more and more in a country where Robocop is relevant."

The panel kicked off with footage of Samuel L. Jackson, playing a talk show host named Pat Novak, describing a debate over whether robots and drones being on peacekeeping duty in Tehran should be used by domestic law enforcement. Later, the filmmakers showed footage of The Killing star Joel Kinnaman transforming into the titular hero.

The new Robocop is slated to premiere in early 2014 — just in time for a statue of the original to be erected in the original film's setting: Detroit.