Sony Pictures will distribute MGM's RoboCop remake, to be directed by Jose Padilha ("Elite Squad" films) from a script by Josh Zetumer, reports Deadline. Joel Kinnaman is set to play the title role.

The deal expands the relationship between Sony and MGM. Sony is also distributing MGM's 21 Jump Street, opening on March 16, and will release the new James Bond movie Skyfall on November 9. They also partnered on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Zookeeper.

Strike Entertainment partners Eric Newman and Marc Abraham are producing.

Padilha previously told us what to expect from the new film: "In the first 'RoboCop' when Alex Murphy is shot, gunned down, then you see some hospitals and stuff and then you cut to him as RoboCop. My movie is between those two cuts. How do you make RoboCop? How do you slowly bring a guy to be a robot? How do you actually take humanity out of someone and how do you program a brain, so to speak, and how does that affect an individual?"

A release date for the remake has not been set yet.