Neill Blomkamp has lined up the money he needs for his next project. Will it be the much anticipated sequel to District 9? Nobody’s talking.

What we do know comes from Variety where they say it’s being funded by Media Rights Capitol. These aren’t the same people who backed District 9, which makes it likely that isn’t District 10 but some other project. That only makes sense, if you’re a hot director like Blomkamp you don’t want to instantly pigeonhole yourself as the guy who does those alien bug movies. It is however still a sci-fi film which, like District 9, will work on a modest (though bigger than District 9’s) budget.

The best news here is that Blomkamp has managed to retain the same kind of complete creative freedom and control he had while working on District 9 under the protection of Peter Jackson. Blomkamp and his District 9 producer Bill Block even get an ownership stake in the finished product which will then be shopped to distributors by MRC.

Word is that Neill is immediately starting work on both the script and, since he’s Neill Blomkamp, the movie’s visual effects. He’ll be able to develop it much the same way he did District 9 with the big difference being, no Peter Jackson to shepherd him along the path to greatness. Blomkamp has left the hobbit hole, it’ll be interesting to see what comes next.