DISTRICT 9 director gets financing on NEW and completely ORIGINAL SCI-FI project!

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Some exciting news to bring you this morning via Mike Fleming at Variety, who carries the scoop that Neil Blomkamp, the man who wrote and directed the stunning District 9, has sealed a deal with Media Rights Capital to fund his next original sci-fi project. No title or plot as of yet but it's claimed it will be put into production around mid 2010. The deal gives Blomkamp the kind of artistic freedom that is rarely afforded to young film-makers these days as no domestic distribution will be sought out from MRC until the work is well underway, meaning there will be no pressure of a release date hanging over the film's head, which time and time again is the accountable reason for why a studio film's third act will descend into tiresome cliche. Here Blomkamp has the time, the freedom and as long as he won't over budget (remember District 9 was made for $30 million, despite looking three times as expensive), Media Rights Capital will just let him be. He's also got an ownership stake in the project, which is rare but very welcomed for the long term say of what could be a potential franchise.

€œMRC is letting me make the film I want to make and that is by far the most important thing here,€ Blomkamp said. €œThe film will hopefully be commercial, but it is very much a singular film, that comes directly from me. `District 9€™ was a bit different. I was learning the process then, under Peter Jackson€™s wing. He had control, but was awesome enough to let me make the film I wanted to.

For a guy's second movie, Blomkamp has sure positioned himself into a very strong position and it's admirable, certainly, that a smart guy like him has waived goodbye the chance of messing around with the big toys at big studios and has instead chosen to stay artistically challenged within a certain budget, allowing him the creative freedom to showcase his singular vision firmly on the big screen. This is after all how the greats start off - the likes of James Cameron, the likes of Christopher Nolan, the likes of Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro. You work hard for what you get, which is always earned on merit and strictly not the climbing a thousand steps on the directing ladder without paying your dues.