Editing RoboCop 2 (section)

=== 1987–1988: ''The Corporate Wars'' ===
[[File:Edward Neumeier 2007.jpg|upright|left|thumb|[[Edward Neumeier]] in 2007. As a result of a five-month Writer's Guild strike and a difficulty to agree with Orion on a story, he and Michael Miner were fired from the project.]]
''RoboCop'' screenwriters [[Edward Neumeier]] and Michael Miner started drafting a sequel in September 1987 due to strong demand by Orion which imposed a deadline of December 31, 1987.{{sfn|Persons|1990|pp=20, 24}} Neumeir and Miner rushed the screenplay as they were also simultaneously writing for another Orion project, ''Company Man''; a film about the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s involvement in the [[Contras]], it was planned to be directed by [[Oliver Stone]], star [[Paul Newman]], and be released before the [[1988 United States presidential election|next United States election]].{{sfn|Persons|1990|p=24–25}}

Neumeier and Miner's draft, ''RoboCop 2: The Corporate Wars'', is set 25 years after the first movie. RoboCop, trying to stop a bank-robbery, is blown up by a thief. The titular protagonist wakes up in a new United States named AmeriPlex, consisting of upper-class "plexes" made out of former cities (e.g. NewYorkPlex, RioPlex, DelhiPlex) and many more [[shanty town]]s with residents named OutPlexers.{{sfn|Persons|1990|p=20}} He is revived in a now-abandoned building for the defunct Omni-Consumer Products (OCP) by two goons of a "super-entrepreneur" named Ted Flicker,{{sfn|Persons|1990|p=21}} who plans to make the national government a private corporate entity that he will own.{{sfn|Persons|1990|p=21}} Flicker also currently has a lot of control over the country, despite another person (who was a former comedian) being the president.{{sfn|Persons|1990|pp=20–21}} RoboCop's new system is also the central computer system of AmeriPlex, NeuroBrain.{{sfn|Persons|1990|p=21}}

''RoboCop 2'' follows numerous subplots, such as Flicker's plan for domination, a violence-spreading narcotic named Smudge, the Internal Grid Security commander trying to commit genocide against the OutPlexers, and RoboCop's code being played with by an American scientist and a Chinese hacker.{{sfn|Persons|1990|pp=20–21}} The script expands upon the first film's consumerist aspects; those in the high-class city plexes eat at LeisureGold where ServiceDroids serve them and make love with SexBots at various brothels; while the environment's media landscape is filled with "NewsBlips," mood-enhancing drugs ads, and MoonDog, a rapper from space, changing public opinion.{{sfn|Persons|1990|p=21}}

On March 7, 1988, a five-month [[1988 Writers Guild of America strike|Writers Guild of America strike began]] and its length resulted in Neumeier and Miner being fired from the project for breach of contract.{{sfn|Kelly|2014|p=119}} Additionally, the writers and Orion struggled to agree on a story, with the studio turned off by the gritty parts of Neumeier and Miner's draft.{{sfn|Persons|1990|pp=19–20}} Stone also stopped ''Company Man'' to work on ''[[Talk Radio (film)|Talk Radio]]'' (1988), making Neumeier and Miner no longer involved at Orion.{{sfn|Persons|1990|p=25}}