District 9 Director Considering Using Steam as Platform for Movie Releases

Instead of working on a District 9 sequel, director Neill Blomkamp is apparently working on experimental short films and has chosen Steam as a release platform. These films will be under the banner of Oats Studios, and is something that appears to have been launched in April. He asked his followers last month, whether they would watch a full feature film on the popular gaming platform. He received plenty of positive responses that it is enough for him to consider moving forward with the effort.

These films will not be exclusive to Steam, but will apparently also be released on YouTube for free. So why offer a paid option? Blomkamp is testing out whether people are willing to pay for films on this platform, not just watch them. To entice viewers, he has tweeted out that these films with come with extras. These bonus content can come in the form of concept art, 3D assets and Maya scene files, etc.

Full films on Steam? What About a District 9 Sequel?

If I sold experimental short films on @steam_games as tests for potential full feature films, would people watch them?

— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) April 9, 2017

Blomkamp has not revealed any timeline yet of when he will be releasing full feature films on Steam, or what project. He seems to be a very busy guy with plenty of crazy new ideas so a District 9 sequel is actually doubtful at the moment. Most of his experimental films tend to lean to the absurd to the almost seemingly random.

The good thing about having a direct, viable and profitable platform such as Steam to release to, is that he can choose what projects to work on. The same cannot be said in Hollywood where the directors are often limited by what the production companies offer. When billions of dollars are involved, studios are not willing to just let directors have free reign on a project.