ROBOCOP 3 - CRITICAL REACTION
Many important casting changes had to be made for the third film. Peter Weller did not reprise his role and was replaced by Robert John Burke and the actor that played the OCP CEO from the previous two films, Dan O'Herlihy, is also absent from the film.
Another pre-production problem with the film was pressure from media watchdog organizations for the film to be rated PG-13, in favor of the younger audience that had only seen the kid friendly animated series. The first two films had been rated R. Hence the profanity, graphic violence, mature sexual content, and references to illicit drugs and prostitution all had to be reduced or taken out altogether. The gritty Orwellian environment of the first two films was severely diluted.
RoboCop 3 was rushed into production soon after RoboCop 2 was complete. Although completed in 1991, RoboCop 3 would languish on the shelf until 1993 as Orion Pictures went through bankruptcy and was bought out. RoboCop 3 earned a disastrous $4.3 million on its opening weekend, ending its run with $10.6 million domestically, far short of recouping its estimated $22 million production budget.
After RoboCop 2's score which was composed by Leonard Rosenman, the RoboCop 1 original composer Basil Poledouris returned to do the soundtrack score and brought back much of the Robocop themes that were missing from RoboCop 2. One of the criticisms for RoboCop 2 was the lack of use of Poledouris's great themes, and the return of Poledouris was a welcome one despite the movie's eventual failure.
NEXT: Cast & Crew Comments
