Thank God for Peter Jackson. The man has vision. The story of District 9 goes, director Neill Blomkamp was tapped to direct the movie based on the Halo video-game series. When that project died, Jackson, who was one of the producers, handed Blomkamp $30 million and told him to go make whatever he wanted. The result was District 9, an expansion of his 2005 short, Alive in Johannesburg.
It's hard to imagine a major studio taking a risk like that on a relatively untried director. But as a filmmaker himself, Jackson evidently saw potential in Blomkamp, and the value of giving him free reign over his own material. And the risk has paid off. The film is very good, and on its opening weekend it came in first place at the box office, pulling in $37 million.
As publicly held corporations, the major studios have always been risk averse. Sequels, comic book and television adaptations, monopolize theater screens throughout the summers because of their built-in fan base and the ease of marketing them. When a unique vision by a little-known auteur is given the green light, it is usually slated for a fall release in hopes of garnering attention for Oscar season. As a summer blockbuster, an independently financed event flick like District 9 is practically an anomaly.
Which raises a question about the virtues of having business men make all the creative financing decisions for the studios. What if they consulted with the actual artists they work with for budgeting decisions, for green-lighting? It's food for thought. And considering that it was made for the paltry sum of $30 million, District 9 could serve as a viable new production model for this industry, mostly stuck in the past.
District 9 likely will not be in the running for Best Picture this year, but it's imbued with much of the same emotional resonance-cum-social awareness, that Oscar contenders often have in common.
Having seen the movie, as I write the phrase "District 9," I am overcome by the potency of it's meaning. So what is District 9, exactly? It is a slum that has been developed over two decades on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. The residents? Aliens. From outer space. What does District 9 represent? It represents the human instinct that fears and loathes the outsider. It represents, appropriately, xenophobia.
Article comments
1 - Mongo
Great review, and I agree, great movie. I wonder if this will revive the Halo project..
2 - Fran
Great review that certainly has me wanting to see this movie.
Besides, if Peter Jackson, who has a kind of sixth sense about movies and made the best ever LoTR movies, thought Blomkamp deserving and trustworthy enough to hand $30M with free reign to make whatever he wanted, that's speaks volumes. I can't to see it.