Detroit Robocop Statue To Be Unveiled On "Robocop Day" This Week [UPDATED]
UPDATE: The Robocop statue presentation has been cancelled, but the first pitch at Comerica Park will proceed as planned. Original story follows.
Detroiters are finally getting a real Robocop... statue. The 10-foot bronze monument to the pop-culture icon will be unveiled tomorrow, June 3, which not-so-coincidentally also marks the DVD/Blu-ray release date for the 2014 Robocop remake.
To celebrate this very special event, the organizers behind the statue have declared Tuesday to be "Robocop Day." Find out what that entails after the jump.
12:00 PM: RoboCop and Detroit Police Department arrivals
12:10 PM: RoboCop presentation and statue announcement
12:30 PM: 1:00 p.m. – Fan photo opportunities with RoboCop
1:00 PM: RoboCop and Detroit Police Department departure to protect the City of Detroit
7:00 PM: RoboCop throws out the first pitch at Comerica Park
A long-term home for the Robocop statue has not been announced.
Plans for the Robocop statue began coming together in 2011, when a Massachusetts fan tweeted that Detroit should erect a monument to its most famous cyborg crimefighter. "Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky & Robocop would kick Rocky's butt. He's a GREAT ambassador for Detroit," the person wrote.
Then-mayor Dave Bing initially shot down the idea, but the concept picked up steam anyway. Within days of the original suggestion — which was a simple tweet, not a formal proposal — arts nonprofit Imagination Station had successfully raised $50,000 for the statue.
The new statue is based on the Robocop suit design from Paul Verhoeven's 1987 film, not Jose Padilha's 2014 remake. Nevertheless, Sony is capitalizing on the big event. Fans not in the Detroit area will be able to celebrate Robocop in their own way tomorrow — by picking up DVD and Blu-rays of the new version.