RoboCop

RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferrer. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit in the near future, RoboCop centers on police officer Alex Murphy (Weller) who is murdered by a gang of criminals and revived by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products as the cyborg law enforcer RoboCop. Unaware of his former life, RoboCop executes a campaign against crime while coming to terms with the lingering fragments of his humanity. The film was conceived by Neumeier while working on the set of Blade Runner (1982), and he developed the idea with Miner. Their script was purchased in early 1985 by producer Jon Davison on behalf of Orion Pictures. Finding a director proved difficult; Verhoeven dismissed the script twice because he did not understand its satirical content, until he was convinced of its value by his wife. Filming took place between August and October 1986, mainly in Dallas, Texas with additional filming in Las Colinas and Pittsburgh. Rob Bottin led the special-effects team in creating practical effects, violent gore and the RoboCop costume. Verhoeven emphasized violence throughout the film, making it so outlandish that it became comical.…

RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferrer. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit in the near future, RoboCop centers on police officer Alex Murphy (Weller) who is murdered by a gang of criminals and revived by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products as the cyborg law enforcer RoboCop. Unaware of his former life, RoboCop executes a campaign against crime while coming to terms with the lingering fragments of his humanity. The film was conceived by Neumeier while working on the set of Blade Runner (1982), and he developed the idea with Miner. Their script was purchased in early 1985 by producer Jon Davison on behalf of Orion Pictures. Finding a director proved difficult; Verhoeven dismissed the script twice because he did not understand its satirical content, until he was convinced of its value by his wife. Filming took place between August and October 1986, mainly in Dallas, Texas with additional filming in Las Colinas and Pittsburgh. Rob Bottin led the special-effects team in creating practical effects, violent gore and the RoboCop costume. Verhoeven emphasized violence throughout the film, making it so outlandish that it became comical. Censorship boards believed that it was too extreme and several scenes were shortened or modified to receive an acceptable theatrical rating. RoboCop was a financial success upon its release in July 1987, earning $53.4 million. Reviewers praised it as a clever action film with deeper philosophical messages and satire, but were conflicted about its extreme violence. The film was nominated for several awards, and won an Academy Award and a number of Saturn Awards. RoboCop has been critically reevaluated since its release, and it has been hailed as one of the best films of the 1980s and one of the greatest science fiction and action films ever made. The film has been praised for its depiction of a robot affected by the loss of humanity, in contrast to the stoic and emotionless robotic characters of that era. RoboCop has continued to be analyzed for its themes such as the nature of humanity, personal identity, corporate greed and corruption, and is seen as a rebuke of the era's Reaganomics policies. Its success created a franchise: the sequels RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993), children's animated series, live-action television shows, video games, comic books, toys, clothing and other merchandise. A remake was released in 2014¹.

Post-production

An additional $600,000 budget increase was approved by Orion for post-production and the music score, raising the budget to $13.7 million. Frank J. Urioste was the film's editor. Several pick-up shots were filmed during this phase, including Murphy's death, RoboCop removing his helmet, and shots of his leg holster. After the OCP boardroom scene in which RoboCop calls himself Murphy, another scene revealed that Lewis was alive in a hospital before showing RoboCop on patrol. The latter scene was thought to lessen the former's triumphant feeling, and was removed. Verhoeven wanted the in-film Media Breaks to abruptly interrupt the narrative and unsettle the viewer. He was influenced by Piet Mondrian's art, which featured stark black lines separating colored squares. Peter Conn directed many of the Media Breaks, but "TJ Lazer" was directed by Neumeier. RoboCop s violent content made it difficult to receive an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which restricted the film to viewers over 17 unless accompanied by an adult. It initially received the more-restrictive X rating, limiting the film to those over 17. Although some reports suggest it was refused an R-rating eleven times, Verhoeven said that the number was actually eight. The MPAA took issue with several scenes, including Murphy's death and ED-209 shooting an executive. The violent scenes were shortened and Media Breaks were added to help lighten the mood; Verhoeven recalled that one reviewer was confused by their jarring appearance in the film, and complained that the projectionist had used the wrong film reel. The MPAA also objected to a scene of a mutated Emil being disintegrated by Boddicker's car, but Verhoeven, Davison and Orion refused to remove it because it consistently received the biggest laughs during test screenings. Verhoeven made the violence comical and surreal, and believed that the cuts made the scenes appear more (not less) violent. He said that his young children laughed at the X-rated cut, and audiences laughed less at the R-rated version. According to Verhoeven, people "love seeing violence and horrible things". The film is 103 minutes long. Basil Poledouris composed the film score after working with Verhoeven on Flesh + Blood. The score combines synthesizers and orchestral music, reflecting RoboCop's cyborg nature. The music was performed by the Sinfonia of London.

Special effects and design

Special effects

as Emil Antonowsky. McCrane wore a prosthesis over his upper body to give the appearance of his skin melting. His death was the highest-rated scene by test audiences. The special-effects team, led by Rob Bottin, included Phil Tippett, Stephan Dupuis, Bart Mixon and Craig Davies. The effects were very violent because Verhoeven believed that this made scenes funnier. He compared the brutality of Murphy's death to the crucifixion of Jesus, an effective way to evoke sympathy for the character. The scene was filmed at an abandoned auto-assembly plant in Long Beach, California, on a raised stage that allowed operators to control the effects from below. To show Murphy being dismantled by gunfire, prosthetic arms were cast in alginate and filled with tubing that could pump artificial blood and compressed air. Weller's left hand, attached to his shoulders by velcro and controlled by three operators, was designed to explode in a controllable way so it could be easily put back together for repeat shots. The right arm was jerked away from Weller's body by a monofilament wire. A detailed, articulated replica of Weller's upper body was used to depict Boddicker shooting Murphy through the head. A mold was made of Weller's face using foam latex that was baked to make it rubbery and flesh-like, and placed over a fiberglass skull containing a blood squib and explosive charge. The articulated head was controlled by four puppeteers, and had details of sweat and blood. A fan motor attached to the body made it vibrate, as if shaking in fear. The charge in the skull was connected to the trigger of Smith's gun by wire to synchronize the effect. Emil's melting condition was inspired by the 1977 science-fiction film The Incredible Melting Man. Bottin designed and constructed Emil's prosthetics, creating a foam-latex headpiece and matching gloves that gave the appearance of Emil's skin melting "off his bones like marshmallow sauce". A second piece, depicting further degradation, was applied over the first. Dupuis painted each piece differently to emphasize Emil's advancing degradation. The prosthetics were applied to an articulated dummy to show Emil being struck by Boddicker's car. The head was loosened so it would fly off; by chance, it rolled onto the car's hood. The effect was completed with Emil's liquified body (raw chicken, soup, and gravy) washing over the windscreen. The same dummy stands in for RoboCop when he is crushed by steel beams (painted wood). Verhoeven wanted RoboCop to kill Boddicker by stabbing him in the eye, but it was believed the effort to create the effect would be wasted due to censorship concerns. Dick Jones's fatal fall is shown by a stop-motion puppet of Cox, animated by Rocco Gioffre. The limited development time forced Gioffre to use a foam-rubber puppet with an aluminum skeleton instead of a better-quality, articulated version. It was composited against Mark Sullivan's matte painting of the street below. ED-209's murder of OCP executive Mr. Kinney was filmed over three days. Kevin Page's body was covered with 200 squibs, but Verhoeven was unhappy with the result and brought him back months later to re-shoot it in a studio-built recreation of the board room. Page was again covered in over 200 squibs and plastic bags filled with spaghetti squash and fake blood. Page described intense pain as each squib detonation felt like a punch. In the cocaine-warehouse scene, Boddicker's stuntman was thrown through glass panes rigged with detonating cord to shatter microseconds before he hit. Gelatin capsules filled with sawdust and a sparkling compound were fired from an air gun at RoboCop to create the effect of ricocheting bullets.

RoboCop

Bottin was tasked with designing the RoboCop costume. He researched the Star Wars character C-3PO and its stiff costume, which made movement difficult. Bottin was also influenced by robot designs in Metropolis (1927), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and several comic-book superheroes. He developed about 50 designs based on feedback from Verhoeven (who pushed for a more machine-like character), before settling on a sleek aesthetic inspired by the work of Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama. Verhoeven admitted his unrealistic expectations after reading Japanese science-fiction manga; it took him a while to realize it, which contributed to the costume delay. The scope of the RoboCop costume was unprecedented, with its design and construction exceeding cost and schedule. The costume took six months to build with flexible foam latex, semi-and completely-rigid polyurethane, and a fiberglass helmet. Moving sections were joined with aluminum and ball bearings. The costume is supported by an internal harness of hooks, allowing for sustained movement during action scenes. Seven costumes were made, including a fireproof version and costumes depicting sustained damage. Reports on their weight vary from . RoboCop's gun, the Auto-9, is a Beretta 93R with an extended barrel and larger grip. It was modified to fire blank bullets, and vents were cut into the side to allow for multi-directional muzzle flashes with every three-shot burst.

ED-209

To budget for ED-209's development, Tippett developed preliminary sketches and hired Davies to design the full-scale model which was constructed with the help of Paula Lucchesi. Verhoeven wanted ED-209 to look mean, and thought that Davies' early designs lacked a "killer" aesthetic. Davies was influenced by killer whales and a United States Air Force LTV A-7 Corsair II. He approached the design with modern American aesthetics and a corporate-design policy that he believed prioritized looks over functionality, including excessive and impractical components. He did not add eyes, thinking that they would make ED-209 more sympathetic. The fully-articulated fiberglass model took four months to build, cost $25,000, stood tall, and weighed . The 100-hour work weeks took their toll and Davies minimized the detail of ED-209's feet, since he did not think they would be shown. The model was later used on promotional tours. Davies spent another four months building two miniature replicas for stop motion animation. The two small models allowed scenes to be animated and filmed more efficiently, which saved time in completing the 55 shots needed in three months. Tippett was the lead ED-209 animator, assisted by Randal M. Dutra and Harry Walton. Tippett conceived ED-209's movement as "unanimal"-like, as if it were about to fall over before catching itself. To complete the character, the droid was given the roar of a leopard. Davison provided a temporary voiceover for ED-209's speaking voice, which was retained in the film.

Other effects and designs

RoboCop contains seven matte effects, mainly painted by Gioffre. Each matte was painted on masonite. Gioffre supervised on-site filming to mask the camera where the matte is inserted, and remembered having to crawl out from a five-story-high ledge to get the right shot of the Plaza of the Americas. The burnished steel RoboCop logo was developed using photographic effects that supervisor Peter Kuran based on a black-and-white sketch from Orion. Kuran created a scaled-up matte version and backlit it. A second pass was made with a sheet of aluminum behind it to create reflective detail. RoboCop's vision was created with hundreds of ink lines on acetate composited over existing footage. Several attempts had to be made to get the line thickness right; at first, the lines were too thick or too thin. Assuming that thermographic photography would be expensive, Kuran replicated thermal vision using actors in body stockings painted with thermal colors and filmed the scene with a polarized lens filter. RoboCop's mechanical recharging chair was designed by John Zabrucky. The OCP boardroom model of Delta City was made under the supervision of art director Gayle Simon. The film's police cars are 1986 Ford Taurus models painted black. The Taurus was chosen because of its futuristic, aerodynamic styling for the vehicle's first production year. The car was intended to feature a customized interior that would show graphical displays of mug shots, fingerprints, and other related information, but the concept was considered too ambitious. The 6000 SUX driven by Boddicker and others was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, modified by Gene Winfield and based on a design by Chip Foose. Two working cars were made with a third, non-functional one that was used when the vehicle exploded. The 6000 SUX commercial features a plasticine dinosaur animated by Don Waller and blocked by Steve Chiodo.

Box office

RoboCop began a wide North American release on July 17, 1987. During its opening weekend, the film earned $8 million from 1,580 theaters—an average of $5,068 per theater. It was the weekend's number-one film, ahead of a re-release of the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ($7.5 million) and the horror sequel Jaws: The Revenge ($7.2 million), both of which were also in their first week of release. RoboCop retained the number-one position in its second weekend with an additional gross of $6.3 million, ahead of Snow White ($6.05 million) and the debuting comedy Summer School ($6 million). It was the fourth-highest-grossing film in its third weekend with a gross of $4.7 million, behind La Bamba ($5.2 million) and the debuts of the horror film The Lost Boys ($5.2 million) and The Living Daylights ($11.1 million). RoboCop never regained the number-one spot, but remained in the top ten for six weeks. By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed about $53.4 million and was a modest success. It was the year's fourteenth-highest-grossing film, behind Crocodile Dundee ($53.6 million), La Bamba ($54.2 million) and Dragnet ($57.4 million). Figures are unavailable for the film's performance outside North America. Due in part to higher ticket prices and an extra week of the theatrical summer, 1987 set a record of $1.6 billion in box-office gross and exceeded the previous record of $1.58 billion record set in 1984. Unlike that summer, which featured several blockbusters such as Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the summer of 1987 delivered only one: Beverly Hills Cop II. More films (including RoboCop) performed modestly well, however, earning a collective total of $274 million—a 50-percent increase over 1986. The average audience age continued to increase, as teen-oriented films such as RoboCop and Beverly Hills Cop II had a 22-percent drop in performance from similar 1986 films. Adult-oriented films had a 39-percent increase in revenue. RoboCop was one of the summer's surprise successes, and contributed to Orion's improving fortunes.

Accolades

RoboCop received a Special Achievement for Best Sound Editing (Stephen Flick and John Pospisil) at the 60th Academy Awards. The film had two other nominations: Best Film Editing for Frank J. Urioste (losing to Gabriella Cristiani for the drama film The Last Emperor) and Best Sound for Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios, Aaron Rochin and Robert Wald (losing to Bill Rowe and Ivan Sharrock for The Last Emperor). In a comedy routine at the event, the RoboCop character rescued presenter Pee-wee Herman from ED-209. At the 42nd British Academy Film Awards, RoboCop received two nominations: Best Makeup and Hair for Carla Palmer (losing to Fabrizio Sforza for The Last Emperor), and Best Special Visual Effects for Bottin, Tippett, Kuran, and Gioffre (losing to George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston, and Edward Jones for the 1988¹ fantasy film Who Framed Roger Rabbit). At the 15th Saturn Awards, RoboCop was the most-nominated film. It received awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director for Verhoeven, Best Writing for Neumeier and Miner, Best Make-up for Bottin and Dupuis, and Best Special Effects for Kuran, Tippett, Bottin, and Gioffre. The film received three more nominations, including Best Actor (Weller) and Best Actress (Allen).

After release

Other media

RoboCop was considered easier to merchandise than other R-rated films and, despite its violent content, its merchandise was targeted at a younger audience. Merchandise included cap guns and other toys, comic books, theme-park rides, novels and RoboCop Ultra Police action figures, which were released with the 1988 animated series RoboCop. By the time of the film's release, Marvel Comics had published a black-and-white comic-book adaptation of the film without violence and adult language; a video game was in development, and negotiations were underway to release T-shirts, other video games and RoboCop dolls by Christmas. The film's poster, painted by Mike Bryan, was reportedly more popular than the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and its novelization, written by Ed Naha, was in its second printing by July. Since its release, RoboCop has continued to be merchandised with collectible action figures, clothing and crockery. A 2014 book, RoboCop: The Definitive History, details the RoboCop franchise. The story of RoboCop has been continued in comics, initially by Marvel. The adaptation of the film was reprinted in color to promote a 23-issue series that ran between 1987 and 1992¹, when the rights were transferred to Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse released a number of miniseries, including RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1992), which pitted RoboCop against Skynet and its Terminators from The Terminator franchise. The story was well-received and was followed by other series, including Prime Suspect (1992), Roulette (1994¹) and Mortal Coils (1996). The RoboCop series was continued by Avatar Press (2003), Dynamite Entertainment (2010) and Boom! Studios (2013). Several games based on, or inspired by, the film have been released. A side-scroller of the same name was released for arcades in 1988, and was ported to other platforms such as the ZX Spectrum and Game Boy. RoboCop Versus The Terminator, an adaptation of the comic of the same name, was released in 1994. RoboCop, a 2003 first-person shooter, was poorly received and resulted in the shuttering of developer Titus Interactive. RoboCop: Rogue City (2023) continues the narrative of RoboCop, being set between RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3.

Modern reception

RoboCop has been called one of the best science-fiction and action films of all time, and among the best films of the 1980s. Several publications have listed it as one of the greatest action films of all time: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating based on reviews. According to the website, "A darkly ironic blast of comic book sci-fi, RoboCop fuses scabrous political satire with dazzling action and outrageous gore, rising above its bone-crunching premise through sharp humor, sleek visuals, and an unexpectedly mythical edge." Rotten Tomatoes listed the film at number 139 on its list of 200 essential movies to watch, and one of 300 essential movies. The film has a score of 70 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 17 "generally favorable reviews". In the 2000s, The New York Times listed it as one of its 1,000 "Best Movies Ever", and Empire ranked the film number 404 on its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. Filmmakers have spoken about their appreciation for RoboCop and cited it as an inspiration in their own careers, including Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Neill Blomkamp, Leigh Whannell and Ken Russell, who called it the best science fiction film since Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was among the action films recommended by director James Gunn.

Sequels and adaptations

By November 1987, Orion had greenlit the development of a sequel targeting a PG rating, which would allow children to see the film unaccompanied by adults, and tying into the 12-episode animated series RoboCop, released by Marvel Productions in 1988. Neumeier and Miner began writing the film but were fired after refusing to work during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike and were replaced by Frank Miller, whose second draft was made into RoboCop 2 and first draft became the second sequel, RoboCop 3. Weller reprised his role in the Irvin Kershner–directed first sequel, which was released to mixed reviews and was estimated to have lost money. RoboCop 3, directed by Fred Dekker, was targeted at younger audiences who were driving merchandise sales. Robert John Burke replaced Weller in the title role, and Allen returned as Anne Lewis for the third and final time in the series. The film was a critical and financial failure. A live-action television series was released in 1994, but had a poor critical reception and was canceled after 22 episodes. Starring Richard Eden as RoboCop, the series used aspects of Neumeier and Miner's RoboCop 2 ideas. A second animated series, RoboCop: Alpha Commando, followed in 1998. Page Fletcher starred as RoboCop in a four-part live-action miniseries, RoboCop: Prime Directives (2001). The series, set ten years after the events of the first film, ignores the events of the sequels. After years of financial difficulties, Orion and the rights to RoboCop were purchased by MGM in the late 1990s. A 2014 reboot of the first film, also called RoboCop, was directed by José Padilha and starred Joel Kinnaman. The film received mixed reviews, but was a financial success. Verhoeven said that he "should be dead" before a reboot was attempted, and Allen believed that an "iconic" film should not be remade. RoboCop Returns, a sequel to RoboCop that ignores the series' other films, was announced to be in development in 2019. However, MGM was purchased by Amazon in 2022, and a television series was announced in 2024. In August 2026, Dan Stevens was cast as Alex Murphy/RoboCop.

Works cited

Books

Journals

Magazines

Other

External links

Projection Booth Episode 16: Robocop (1987) – Special guests: Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox, Miguel Ferrer, Monte Hellman, Michael Miner, Ed Naha, Ed Neumeier, and Jerry Paffendorf

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