Right now it seems very premature to say yes or no to the idea of a District 9 sequel. The science fiction film was one of the biggest of the summer when it came out and it was also a big surprise to everyone, including the director and the producers, that it did so well. The story centers around a large group of alien creatures, called prawns by many people throughout the film, that have mistakenly come to earth and been detained by a government that doesn’t understand them and barely tolerates them so long as they stay within the district that they’ve been given more or less. No one wants them there, no one wants to deal with them, and yet they can’t get rid of them because the aliens have no fuel to make the return trip home. So it becomes a serious problem as tensions rise and the aliens become agitated, wanting to return home without any continued struggle. Unfortunately the human reaction to such creatures is, as the film shows, anything but understanding, or tolerant.
There’s a few reasons why we might not be seeing a sequel anytime soon.
The director never had any intention of making a sequel.
This one is hard to buy since the ending of the film left it wide open for a sequel and could have facilitated an easy transition from one film to another. But apparently Neill Blomkamp, the director, was not planning on doing anything else with District 9. It was only when he was doing the final edits that he seemed to realize how perfectly the movie was set up for a sequel, but by that time it was too late. It does happen that a person that is so deep into their own creation or project can develop tunnel vision, which then doesn’t allow for anything other than what’s right in front of their nose at the time. So it’s easy enough to see how he missed the connecting point that could have afforded him the chance for a sequel, but it’s regrettable that it came so late. Peter Jackson would have been up for a sequel without a problem.
He had too many projects that came after and the idea kept getting pushed back.
Once he discovered that the movie could in fact segue into a sequel Blomkamp was all for it, but he’d already taken on the ideas for Elysium and Chappie. Unfortunately both of these movies were highly forgettable and didn’t do much of anything at the box office when compared to District 9. But the more he continued to move forward with other projects the more it became obvious that District 9 was being left as a stand alone movie and nothing else. The sequel is still very much a valid idea that could become a reality at some point, but it would be necessary to bring up District 9 yet again and remind people just what happened before it came out. After all it’s been nine years since the movie came out and there has been a veritable flood of science fiction movies since then that have overshadowed District 9, Avatar being one of them since the film came out at the same time.
Going back to the film and making a worthy sequel might be too difficult right now.
If Blomkamp had really wanted to do a sequel then it would have been wiser to start production on it as soon as he was finished with the first movie. What needs to be recognized however is that like lot of people he enjoys the down time between movies as it allows him to relax and recharge. But if the sequel was to be brought up now or anytime soon it would be absolutely necessary to revisit the original movie at least for the first few minutes of the sequel, just to remind people what had been happening before the first movie ended. Plus the idea of bringing District 9 back seems a bit difficult since the films that have been released as of late seem more than capable of holding their own against it and possibly even burying it as Avatar did back in 2009. With the right story and the proper direction a sequel could bring a new chapter to this movie and possibly move it in a direction that would be just as entertaining and even bring some real closure to the film. That being said it would need to come out at the right time and would also need to feature a few more notable stars so as to compete with other movies in its genre. Sharlto Copley has become a big star since the film, but right now he couldn’t take the whole thing on his back if he had to.
It could be possible that we’ll see a sequel in the future, but don’t hold your breath.
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