RoboCop (franchise)

RoboCop is an American cyberpunk action media franchise featuring the futuristic adventures of Alex Murphy, a Detroit, Michigan police officer, who is brutally murdered in the line of duty and resurrected into a powerful cyborg, brand-named RoboCop, at the behest of a powerful mega-corporation, Omni Consumer Products. Thus equipped, Murphy battles both violent crime in a severely decayed city and the blatantly corrupt machinations within OCP.

The franchise began in 1987 with the film RoboCop. RoboCop 2 followed in 1990, and RoboCop 3 in 1993. There have also been various television series, video game and comic book tie-ins. The franchise has made over US$100 million worldwide and a remake serving as a reboot titled RoboCop was released in February 2014. A new installment titled RoboCop Returns is in the works and will serve as a direct sequel to the 1987 film, ignoring other sequels and the remake, as well as the two live-action TV spin-offs. As of June 2019, the script, which will be based on an original story from the writers of the 1987 film, Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, was still being written. Neill Blomkamp was originally signed on to direct the film but left the project, and Abe Forsythe was later selected to direct.

RoboCop is a 1987 American cyberpunk action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop". The film features Peter Weller, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood Smith, Nancy Allen, Miguel Ferrer, and Ronny Cox.

In addition to being an action film, RoboCop includes larger themes regarding the media, resurrection, gentrification, corruption, privatization, capitalism, masculinity, and human nature. It received positive reviews and was cited as one of the best films of 1987, spawning a large franchise, including merchandise, two sequels, a television series, two animated TV series, and a television mini-series, video games and a number of comic book adaptations/crossovers. The film was produced for a relatively modest $13 million.

RoboCop 2 is a 1990 cyberpunk action film directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. It is the sequel to the 1987 film, and pits RoboCop against another cyborg created with the intention of replacing him.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. It was the last film directed by Kershner.

RoboCop 3 is a cyberpunk action film directed and co-written by Fred Dekker, released in 1993, set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, and filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the buildings seen in the film were slated for demolition to make way for facilities for the 1996 Olympics. Nancy Allen as Anne Lewis, Robert DoQui as Sgt. Warren Reed, Felton Perry as Donald Johnson, Mario Machado as Newscaster Casey Wong and Angie Bolling as Ellen Murphy are the only cast members to appear in all three films. Robert John Burke replaces Peter Weller as RoboCop.

The film received very negative reviews from critics. It was the first film in the RoboCop franchise to be rated PG-13.^{[citation needed]}