Neill Blomkamp is Testing Ideas for Original Sci-Fi Projects on Steam
What is Neill Blomkamp up to now? Ever since the sad news broke that his Alien reboot with Sigourney Weaver was being canned thanks to Ridley Scott taking over the franchise again, we've been curious about where Blomkamp would head next. Is he working on any movies? What is he developing next? We don't have any definitive answers yet, but we do have some exciting teases for potential science fiction projects in the works. Blomkamp has been tweeting since April about a partnership he has with Steam (the video game platform/distribution service). Apparently he has launched a new development studio called Oats Studio, where they're creating all kinds of crazy cool sci-fi projects. And what they want to do is release teases for them as short films on Steam in order to test and see which ones might become feature-length films. I'm in.
We really don't know much about any of these projects yet. Aside from what Blomkamp has posted publicly about them, which is mostly just names and photos and not much else, we're waiting for them to hit Steam. The cool scaly lizard monster is only described as a "monster"; another project is called Rakka; and he says there are "Vietnam war alternate timelines" they're experimenting with. That's about all that's known for now, unless some other details have popped up in other places. More than anything, I'm curious to see these short films and learn more about them. Here's to hoping they launch sooner than later, and even if they do cost money, I'll probably still pay for a couple just to see them. I'm still a big fan of Blomkamp and his sci-fi.
Here are a few of the tweets posted by Neill on his Twitter account talking about the studio and his projects:
If I sold experimental short films on @steam_games as tests for potential full feature films, would people watch them?
— NΞill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) April 9, 2017
Coming soon to @steam_games experimental films. Like a channel of tests and ideas pic.twitter.com/u4FEGq1zYc
— NΞill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) April 13, 2017
We are making experimental short films for @steam_games , question is weather to charge. Free is way better, but then - alas studio is gone pic.twitter.com/Ad6g8QArBQ
— NΞill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) April 10, 2017
Update! Here's the first brief teaser trailer with footage for Oats Studios "Volume 1" released by Neill:
You can follow Neill on Twitter @NeillBlomkamp for the latest updates, as he posts often and sometimes replies to questions. Additionally, Blomkamp has been posting to Instagram and has launched an Instagram account for Oats Studios (@oatsstudios). Found there are a few videos and mostly teaser photos of some of the short films/sci-fi concepts they've been developing. These might eventually be released via Steam and more teasers are coming to their YouTube page. Here are a few of the coolest teases from their Instagram:
A post shared by Oats Studios (@oatsstudios) on
A post shared by Oats Studios (@oatsstudios) on
A post shared by Oats Studios (@oatsstudios) on
A post shared by Oats Studios (@oatsstudios) on
Blomkamp has always been a fan of developing projects quietly and just creating ideas on the fly. Chappie was originally a short film released in 2003 (called Tetra Vaal) before it became a feature film. Same with District 9. Blomkamp was even the one behind that funny presidential motorcade video which went viral late last year. Way back right after the release of District 9, but before Elysium, a series of mysterious viral "ads" appeared online showing some kind of disgusting monsters/creatures. They were eventually linked to Blomkamp, but as far as we know, they never developed into anything. At least not yet. It's actually more exciting to know that Blomkamp is coming up with all kinds of unique, original, crazy fun ideas for projects instead of developing something for another franchise we already know about. He's the kind of filmmaker who deserves this kind of freedom to create, and I'm excited to see what he comes up. Bring on more sci-fi.
We'll be keeping an eye on things for any updates and watching for the shorts on Steam once they premiere.