District 9 had its World Premiere on 23 July 2009 at San Diego Comic-Con. It was released by TriStar Pictures on 14 August 2009, in North America and became a financial success, earning over $210 million at the box office.
District 9 was a groundbreaking sci-fi hit with an original premise that explored themes of prejudice and apartheid in South Africa. Director Neill Blomkamp's success with District 9 led to other projects, but his follow-up films, Elysium and Chappie, didn't have the same impact.
After teasing his interest in the idea ever since the release of District 9, Blomkamp revealed that development in the District 10 script had officially begun and that he would be co-writing the sequel with Sharlto Copley and Terri Tatchell.
Its box office revenue in the U.S. reached $17,493,096. While it was not nominated for any Academy Awards, the film received 39 assorted award nominations, winning 16 of them.
Technically brilliant and emotionally wrenching, District 9 has action, imagination, and all the elements of a thoroughly entertaining science-fiction classic.
DISTRICT 9 (The Prawns, Multi-National United + Ending) EXPLAINED
Why was District 9 banned?
Nigeria's Information Minister Dora Akunyili asked movie cinemas around the country to either ban the film or edit out specific references to the country because of the film's negative depiction of the Nigerian characters as criminals and cannibals.
District 9 is a great example of what sci-fi should be about. It's thought provoking, visually impressive (especially given the budget it was made on), and asks questions that are relevant to the real world.
Chappie, District 9, and Elysium were connected by the Tetravaal conglomerate: the morally dubious company at the center of Chappie. Chappie focused on Tetravaal's robotics division. The logos for Tetravaal's security divisions could be spotted in the found footage hit District 9.
The film is a thinly-disguised allegory for the Apartheid regime that ruled in South Africa from 1948 to 1994: it was a system of forced racial segregation, where non-whites were relegated to second class citizenry and whites dominated the country, running the government and getting the best jobs and land.
Yet, for all the promise of this intriguing and original setup, plans for the District 9 sequel have never really materialized – thanks in part to Blomkamp's chequered directorial record. In the years since District 9, was released, Neill Blomkamp's career has been slightly derailed by a succession of flops.
The filmmaker previously confirmed that the sequel was in development in 2021, announcing that he re-teamed with partners Sharlto Copley and Terri Tatchell to write the screenplay.
He realizes that the alien lives are worth just as much as his, so he essentially sacrifices himself so Christopher and CJ can escape. The final shot of the film shows that Wikus has fully transformed into an alien and leaves anonymous gifts at his wife's door to show he's still thinking of her.
The Fluid probably powers their everyday technology on their home planet. It also seems to contain prawn DNA, where the observed effects of coming into contact with Wikus seemed to initiate a genetic reaction, eventually resulting in his apparent transformation into a Prawn.
Parents need to know that this gritty, buzzworthy sci-fi epic filmed in South Africa (and produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson) is full of extremely realistic, bloody violence, including severed limbs, lots of bodies, piles of high-tech weapons, and even torture.
When the movie's main character, MNU agent Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), was sprayed with a liquid fuel that would help the prawns escape earth, he became quite ill, kicking off his own transformation into a prawn.
The Aliens in the movie, pejoratively called “Prawns”, are forcibly contained within an area known as District 9. The clear allegory here is to District 6, and the aliens are taking the metaphorical place of those “colored” South Africans who were displaced during the apartheid.
The story, adapted from Alive in Joburg, a 2005 short film directed by Blomkamp and produced by Sharlto Copley and Simon Hansen, pivots on the themes of xenophobia and social segregation. The title and premise of District 9 were inspired by events that took place in District Six, Cape Town during the apartheid era.
"Chappie," by comparison, is an exhausting slog through overly familiar cliches that is nowhere near as profound or touching as it clearly thinks it is and is utterly lacking in the kind of intelligence and artistry that it so often pays lip service to in the dialogue.
Chappie 2 is highly unlikely to happen due to the box office underperformance of the first movie, which failed to turn a profit. Director Neill Blomkamp has ruled out a sequel to Chappie, acknowledging the movie's failure and its impact on his career.
The film attempts to illustrate Chappie as a child trying to find his way in the world and gain some sense of morality. Unfortunately, the film falls short in this goal. Most of Chappie's problems stem from its terrible pacing, making it impossible for it to tell the story it wants to tell in its time constraint.
It is now considered a modern classic due to its skill in fusing a thought-provoking social commentary with an engrossing alien story. The film's enduring legacy can be attributed to its inventive storytelling technique, memorable characters, and thought-provoking themes.
He was one of the head operatives for the relocation of alien prawn-like residents of District 9 to their new home in District 10. There he was exposed to an alien chemical, causing his DNA to rapidly fuse with Prawn-DNA, giving him the ability to operate alien machinery and weapons.
