After raking in $55 million and claiming top spot on its opening weekend in the US (as well as taking the top of the New Zealand Box office on its opening weekend) and receiving rave reviews around the world, including one from tvnz.co.nz's own Darren Bevan , District 9's Kiwi producer, Peter Jackson; director, Neill Blomkamp and star, Sharlto Copley are looking into turning the film into an enduring sci-fi franchise.
Copley told MTV News that the nature of the production left nearly enough video on the cutting room floor for another installment. "The behind-the-scenes DVD is gonna be crazy because we shot an enormous amount of footage," said Copley. "There were a lot of exciting avenues to want to go down and you really (have to fit it all) into a small block of time."
The movie, which tells the story of an alien ship trapped for decades in South Africa, creates a rich historical backstory, only some of which is revealed by the ending. Leaving plenty of scope for a sequel or even a prequel.
Blomkamp has expressed a desire to revisit the material at some point.
"When I started thinking about it, I thought I'd totally like to go back to the creative universe of District 9 for sure," he said. "Hopefully there's a place for that sometime in the future. It has to kind of do well first."
With that success now seemingly assured, there's the small matter of deciding which idea to move forward with and in what medium.
"I believe movies should come from the heart, and if there's any
sequel or continuation of District 9, it should only be because
there's a good idea involved, not because it's a money-making
venture," says Jackson whose Weta company worked on some of the
film's visual effects.
See the District 9 trailer
here
