This movie will be a direct sequel of RoboCop (1987) that ignores RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993), as well as the remake RoboCop (2014).
The film is based on a story outline that Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner wrote years before, as a sequel to RoboCop (1987), but it was rejected because the studio wanted RoboCop 2 (1990) to enter production as fast as possible, and didn't want to wait for Neumeier and Miner to write the full screenplay.
Neill Blomkamp was originally set to direct, but later backed out because he wanted to direct a horror movie first, and MGM didn't want to wait until he was done.