- Director - Paul Verhoeven
- Producer - Arne Schmidt
- the film is set in america, detroit
- there is two sequels to this film; Robocop 2 and 3
- this was produced in hollywood
- Budget - $13 million
- Distributed across the world by Orion Pictures
- Most of the urban settings was filmed in Dallas, Texas
- there visual effects involved Stop-motion animation, which involves individual photographic frames to create a technique where the physical models of the robocop will appear to be moving.
- it was not only made into sequels, it was also generated into numerous attempts of a TV series
- it was originally rated X because of the violence involved in the film and the sexual content
Robocop (2014)
- Director - Jose Padiha
- Producer - Marc Abraham & Eric Newham
- The film is still set in detriot but some of the filming and photography was done in locations like canada, toronto and hamilton
- budget - $100 million
- the production companies involved are colombia pictures and strike entertainment
- They used visual effects like green screen, digital creations to produced the robots characters and plate photography
When it comes to films the production context is a crucial aspect that should be assessed as it influences many other areas in the process. Production context involves the different film contexts that produce movies and are influenced by areas such as, the cultural background, the budget, who is creating the film and much more. For this task I have chosen to assess the remake and original version of the film 'Robocop'. This film goes all the way back to 1987 which is when the original 'Robocop' was released and distributed by Orion pictures across the world; this then went on to result in two more sequels in 1990 and 1993. The remake of Robocop followed on in 2014 which was produced by Colombia pictures, strike entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn Mayer ,which the successor of Orion pictures. The original version of this film was directed by Paul Verhoeven which lead to his american breakthrough film; this then was directed by Jose Padiha to create the remake which was domestically more successful than the original. both of the versions of this films are based around the same plot with slight adjustment to certain aspects in the scenes, for example, the wife and son of Alex Murphy had nothing to do with him after he was created in Robocop in the original but in the remake they involved the wife and son in the decision of him turning into Robocop and further involvement with Alex Murphy after him becoming Robocop. As well as the remake in enhanced into more detail than the original.
The plot involves a Detroit police officer Alex Murphy, who is introduced to his new partner Anne Lewis. They are both out on patrol, when they are suddenly they have to chase down the ruthless Clarence Boddicker and his criminal companions until they tail them to an abandoned warehouse. The two detectives are unable to get backup so they go in alone and unfortunately the criminals have them on the underhand; Murphy is caught and suffers a fatal injury which leaves his body with nothing much left. The results in Murphy being transformed into Robocop where his programmed to fight crime in the help of the police force. However, Alex Murphy to overcomes the program and tries to solve his own murder by hunting down Clarence Boddicker and he finds out that he is working for the OCP senior president, Dick Jones. Robocop tries to takedown Dick Jones and Clarence Boddicker but they both aren't going down without a fight. Meanwhile, Robocop is still trying to retrieve his memory back with the help of Anne Lewis. However, in the remake of Robocop the basis of the plot hasn't changed but their is some of the content that has changed. Alex Murphy has a male partner in the remake who he is very close and good friends with, whereas in the original the partner is a female which he is newly introduced to. As well as the way Murphy gets his fatal injury changes because in the remake he suffers 3rd degree burns from a bomb explosion causing him to result in him becoming Robocop.
The various factors that may have an influence on the production context includes, the cultural background; the culture being established in the Robocop series is an typical american background, the original version of the film shows this through the various humorous commercials in between the news broadcasts within the film. It helps the viewer to understand a bit about the american consumer culture and lightens the mood of the film. As well as the american culture is evident from the lifestyle of Alex Murphy and his family can be assumed that is the typical expectations of an american household. However, in the remake of the film its shows an update in american culture and technology. This is highlighted in the difference in television between the two films, in the remake the talk show, The Novak Element, includes holograms, visual touch screens and numerous visual effects; whereas in the original the news broadcasts were very basic and didn't involve much technology. Another aspect that may have effect the production context is the budgets assigned were different in the original the budget assigned was only $13 million, whereas remake received $100 million this could allow the remake to have more content within the film and allow them to retrieve a greater quantity or quality of equipment which might have resulted in the remake achieving $58 million domestically in comparison to the original which only achieve $53 million domestically. In addition the amount of companies involved in the production may have an affect of the context of the film. In the original they only had the help of Orion Pictures but on the other hand the remake had Strike Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures. This can mean that the remake will more ideas to brainstorm with in contribution to a better final product, compared to the original which will have less help and will involve more work for the production team.
It was quite difficult for the 1987 Robocop to be produced because they didn't feel as if it would be successful, due to the fact that the storyline and settings was incomplete; so they was rejected by many studios. Whereas the 2014 Robocop didn't have much difficult persuading a studio to fund the film and the studio, Screen gems, was first to announce the remake and was very eager in producing the film. However, studios may be more confident in producing the new Robocop more than the remake because the original was a new and fresh idea that hadn't been explored before, so it was more risky; on the other hand the remake is more predictable because it is an idea that has shown a positive response in the past so is therefor less risky. The original Robocop was eventually produced by Orion pictures and the remake was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer along with the help of Columbia Pictures and Strike Entertainment.
This film uses different types technologies of production to produce the various special effects that involve the audio effects and visual effects that help to engage the viewers within the original and remake of Robocop. In original they used visual effects such as, Stop-motion animation, which involves individual photographic frames to create a technique where the physical models of the Robocop will appear to be moving. Whereas in the remake the technology has develop more since then and they were able to build digital creations and utilise chroma key effectively; they used grey tracking suits which is a familiar trait in motion capture to create the robot characters, although the robot suit of Alex Murphy was combination of digital and the actor themselves acting out the scenes to give it a more realistic affect. The production of the remake is more technological because of the difference in quality that can be applied to scenes from digital creation in comparison to the original.
The difference in technology of the years means that the remake was able to be applied on various platforms such as, DVD, Blu-ray and digital download. On the other hand, the original was created to only be on the platforms, Video CD, VHS and laserdisc but was later released on DVD and blu ray in 2007 and 2010.
Robocop was first released in 1987; which was the year that action and drama films was quite popular. It meant that Robocop was amongst one of the many successful films in 1987 including, Fatal Attraction, Beverley Hills Cops 2, Dirty Dancing and many more. However, the remake was released amongst a time when brand new concepts for a good film, where Robocop is a old concept which most fans of movie have seen the original and will feel more eager watch something new. As well as it is common for people to prefer the prequel or the original of a film series, so in this case Robocop's original will be preferred by its fans rather than the remake no matter how good the remake is. In addition, 2014 was the year that superhero movies were very popular which doesn't fit into the category of Robocop.
The remake had follow on audience from the original and the sequels that carried on from the original, Robocop 2 and 3, so Robocop was originally a film series that seemed had a strong fan base. This fan base will have followed on to the remake.
In conclusion, the film Robocop being compared from its original to its remake, shows that they differ mainly because of the difference in time zone. The plot and idea of the film hasn't changed much but the production content has several difference, that include the difference in filming locations, budget assigned and use of technologies in the production. This aspects are showing that because of the upgrades in technologies from the 1980's to the 2014 have contributed to a higher quality film and has allowed them to explore the storyline in more depth than the original; that mean't that the remake was able to adjust some of the storyline to make the remake mote engaging. In my opinion, I feel that the original film was more successful even though the quality of the remake is better and they earned more domestically; this is because it was seen as one of the best films of the 1987 and was a fresh film concept at the time and was able to build a large enough fan base to create two more sequels, whereas the remake wasn't amongst one of the most successful films of 2014 and didn't achieve as much attention as the original did.
The plot involves a Detroit police officer Alex Murphy, who is introduced to his new partner Anne Lewis. They are both out on patrol, when they are suddenly they have to chase down the ruthless Clarence Boddicker and his criminal companions until they tail them to an abandoned warehouse. The two detectives are unable to get backup so they go in alone and unfortunately the criminals have them on the underhand; Murphy is caught and suffers a fatal injury which leaves his body with nothing much left. The results in Murphy being transformed into Robocop where his programmed to fight crime in the help of the police force. However, Alex Murphy to overcomes the program and tries to solve his own murder by hunting down Clarence Boddicker and he finds out that he is working for the OCP senior president, Dick Jones. Robocop tries to takedown Dick Jones and Clarence Boddicker but they both aren't going down without a fight. Meanwhile, Robocop is still trying to retrieve his memory back with the help of Anne Lewis. However, in the remake of Robocop the basis of the plot hasn't changed but their is some of the content that has changed. Alex Murphy has a male partner in the remake who he is very close and good friends with, whereas in the original the partner is a female which he is newly introduced to. As well as the way Murphy gets his fatal injury changes because in the remake he suffers 3rd degree burns from a bomb explosion causing him to result in him becoming Robocop.
The various factors that may have an influence on the production context includes, the cultural background; the culture being established in the Robocop series is an typical american background, the original version of the film shows this through the various humorous commercials in between the news broadcasts within the film. It helps the viewer to understand a bit about the american consumer culture and lightens the mood of the film. As well as the american culture is evident from the lifestyle of Alex Murphy and his family can be assumed that is the typical expectations of an american household. However, in the remake of the film its shows an update in american culture and technology. This is highlighted in the difference in television between the two films, in the remake the talk show, The Novak Element, includes holograms, visual touch screens and numerous visual effects; whereas in the original the news broadcasts were very basic and didn't involve much technology. Another aspect that may have effect the production context is the budgets assigned were different in the original the budget assigned was only $13 million, whereas remake received $100 million this could allow the remake to have more content within the film and allow them to retrieve a greater quantity or quality of equipment which might have resulted in the remake achieving $58 million domestically in comparison to the original which only achieve $53 million domestically. In addition the amount of companies involved in the production may have an affect of the context of the film. In the original they only had the help of Orion Pictures but on the other hand the remake had Strike Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures. This can mean that the remake will more ideas to brainstorm with in contribution to a better final product, compared to the original which will have less help and will involve more work for the production team.
It was quite difficult for the 1987 Robocop to be produced because they didn't feel as if it would be successful, due to the fact that the storyline and settings was incomplete; so they was rejected by many studios. Whereas the 2014 Robocop didn't have much difficult persuading a studio to fund the film and the studio, Screen gems, was first to announce the remake and was very eager in producing the film. However, studios may be more confident in producing the new Robocop more than the remake because the original was a new and fresh idea that hadn't been explored before, so it was more risky; on the other hand the remake is more predictable because it is an idea that has shown a positive response in the past so is therefor less risky. The original Robocop was eventually produced by Orion pictures and the remake was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer along with the help of Columbia Pictures and Strike Entertainment.
This film uses different types technologies of production to produce the various special effects that involve the audio effects and visual effects that help to engage the viewers within the original and remake of Robocop. In original they used visual effects such as, Stop-motion animation, which involves individual photographic frames to create a technique where the physical models of the Robocop will appear to be moving. Whereas in the remake the technology has develop more since then and they were able to build digital creations and utilise chroma key effectively; they used grey tracking suits which is a familiar trait in motion capture to create the robot characters, although the robot suit of Alex Murphy was combination of digital and the actor themselves acting out the scenes to give it a more realistic affect. The production of the remake is more technological because of the difference in quality that can be applied to scenes from digital creation in comparison to the original.
The difference in technology of the years means that the remake was able to be applied on various platforms such as, DVD, Blu-ray and digital download. On the other hand, the original was created to only be on the platforms, Video CD, VHS and laserdisc but was later released on DVD and blu ray in 2007 and 2010.
Robocop was first released in 1987; which was the year that action and drama films was quite popular. It meant that Robocop was amongst one of the many successful films in 1987 including, Fatal Attraction, Beverley Hills Cops 2, Dirty Dancing and many more. However, the remake was released amongst a time when brand new concepts for a good film, where Robocop is a old concept which most fans of movie have seen the original and will feel more eager watch something new. As well as it is common for people to prefer the prequel or the original of a film series, so in this case Robocop's original will be preferred by its fans rather than the remake no matter how good the remake is. In addition, 2014 was the year that superhero movies were very popular which doesn't fit into the category of Robocop.
The remake had follow on audience from the original and the sequels that carried on from the original, Robocop 2 and 3, so Robocop was originally a film series that seemed had a strong fan base. This fan base will have followed on to the remake.
In conclusion, the film Robocop being compared from its original to its remake, shows that they differ mainly because of the difference in time zone. The plot and idea of the film hasn't changed much but the production content has several difference, that include the difference in filming locations, budget assigned and use of technologies in the production. This aspects are showing that because of the upgrades in technologies from the 1980's to the 2014 have contributed to a higher quality film and has allowed them to explore the storyline in more depth than the original; that mean't that the remake was able to adjust some of the storyline to make the remake mote engaging. In my opinion, I feel that the original film was more successful even though the quality of the remake is better and they earned more domestically; this is because it was seen as one of the best films of the 1987 and was a fresh film concept at the time and was able to build a large enough fan base to create two more sequels, whereas the remake wasn't amongst one of the most successful films of 2014 and didn't achieve as much attention as the original did.
