Neill Blomkamp: ‘Hollywood will always make the safest bet’ (Exclusive)

Describe the summer box office in one word? Franchise.

From the brilliance of ‘Iron Man 3’ to the overkill that was ‘Man Of Steel’ - take a look at summer 2013’s line-up and you’ll have to squint to spot a movie that isn’t a remake, a reboot or a sequel.

“Basically, Hollywood is always gonna do one thing,” says ‘Elysium’ director Neill Blomkamp, spilling his thoughts on the subject, “…it’s going to make the safest bet that it can.”

“The higher the budgets go, the more assurances they want that it’s going to make money. And the most positive way you can do that is by basing it on a franchise or on a sequel or something that exists.”

[Matt Damon: Elysium reminds me of Avatar]

Speaking exclusively to Yahoo! Movies UK about his Matt Damon fronted sci-fi, a genuine big budget original, the ‘District 9’ filmmaker also revealed his strategy to “combat” Hollywood’s franchise fixation.

“If you want to do something high budget and participates in a summer Hollywood realm, you just have to write something that is commercially viable,” said Neill.

“Luckily for me my natural creative instincts are maybe not as commercially viable as Michael Bay, but they’re still within the realm of explosions and guns and cars and stuff. I like that.”

[Sharlto Copley: 'District 9 sequel has huge potential']

Check out our full interview with Neill above, including his thoughts on the failed ‘Halo’ movie and how he came up with the look of the ‘Elysium’ space station.

‘Elysium’, starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley is out in the UK 21 August 2013.