Darren Aronofsky, the director of some amazing movies like Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain, has signed on to direct the newest addition to the RoboCop franchise.

In addition to Aronofsky, David Self (Road to Perdition) will write the screenplay and Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Brad Fischer, and David Thwaites will produce. Medavoy has also been part of the original 1987 film at Orion Pictures.

The fourth movie is being fast-tacked for a 2010 release.

Fischer and Thwaites had this to say:

A question many people have is what this will be rated; as you may remember, rumors flew recently about this being a PG-13 project, which might not be the greatest thing if it plays out. I know that the third RoboCop was PG-13, but if we’re going off of the first and best movie, there was an extreme, relentless, vicious tone that’d be difficult to re-capture, especially with a lower rating.

With this announcement comes a lot more hope for the project; if Aronofsky is able to bring the same ruthlessness to this as he did in Requiem for a Dream, I could see this matching or even bettering the original RoboCop, but a whole lot more questions need to be answered first.

Apparently the project is not a remake, but more like a fourth RoboCop movie, which will takes place 20 years after Detroit shut down the RoboCop program, when the city decides that the program should be re-instituted That will allow filmmakers to work it a little more modernly and not worry AS much about standing next to the original. I’m hoping this is true, it’s a much better way to go than to remake the first movie.

In any case, this is one of the more intriguing bits of news I’ve heard in a while and I look forward to more.