The Robocop remake
has yet to begin filming, yet the marketing blitz has already begun. A website for Omnicorp, a fictional
megacorporation that features prominently in the films plot, has launched. It comes equipped with a faux commercial
titled “Omnicorp Product Line.” The ad
trots out three of the company’s latest innovations: The Enforcement Droid
Series 209, the XT-908 Harrier Drone, and the RC2000. All three of these war machines have been
programmed for, but aren’t limited to, urban pacification.
True Robocop fans
will instantly recognize Omnicorp as the stand in for Omni Consumer Products,
or OCP for short. In the original film,
OCP was an evil megacorporation that entered into a contract with the city of
Detroit to run its police force. They planned
on demolishing “Old Detroit” and replacing it with a utopia called “Delta City.” Omnicorp will undoubtedly play a similar role
in the remake.
The design of the new ED-209 sticks surprisingly close to
that of the original. The only real
difference is that it’s more heavily armed.
Hopefully, this choice has been made in homage to the original and not
out of sheer laziness. The XT Harrier
Drones recall the Aerial Hunter Killers from The Terminator films. It's made quite obvious that the RC2000 is actually Robocop himself. The ad only offers brief glimpses of the title character, as if saving the best surprise for future viral videos.
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Omnicorp's XT-Harrier Drone |
Viral marketing is very much in keeping with the spirit of
the Robocop. If given a more sharply satiric bend, “Omnicorp
Product Line” could have played after one of the original film’s numerous Media Break news segments. While I truly appreciate the reverence being
shown for the original, I do hope that director José Padilha is able to his own
unique spin on the material.
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