Neill Blomkamp Net Worth

What Is Neill Blomkamp's Net Worth?

Neill Blomkamp is a South African and Canadian director, writer, producer, and animator who has a net worth of $20 million. Neill Blomkamp earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for the 2009 film "District 9," which he also directed. Blomkamp has written, directed, and produced the feature films "Elysium" (2013), "Chappie" (2015), and "Demonic" (2021), and he directed "Gran Turismo" (2023). He has directed numerous short films, including "Yellow" (2006), "The Escape" (2016), "Rakka" (2017), "Zygote" (2017), and "Lima" (2017), and he wrote several of them as well. "Time" magazine included Neill on its 2009 list of the world's most influential people.

Early Life

Neill Blomkamp was born on September 17, 1979, in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa. While attending Redhill High School, Neill met actor Sharlto Copley, who had previously attended that school. Copley let Blomkamp use computers at his production company to pursue his talent for 3D design and animation, so Neill helped Sharlto create 3D work to use when pitching various projects. When Blomkamp was 18, his family moved to Vancouver, where he attended the Vancouver Film School. In 1998, he graduated from the school's 3D Animation and Visual Effects program.

Career

In the late '90s, Blomkamp began working as a 3D animator and visual effects artist in the film industry. Neill's  animation credits include 1998's "Stargate SG-1," "First Wave," and "Mercy Point" and 1999's "Aftershock: Earthquake in New York." In 2000, he was hired as the lead animator for the Fox series "Dark Angel," and he was the lead 3D animator on the 2001 film "3000 Miles to Graceland." In 2003, he illustrated photo-realistic future aircraft for a "Next Century in Aviation" feature in the magazine "Popular Science," followed by "The Future of the Automobile" in 2004. Blomkamp was a visual effects artist at Rainmaker Digital Effects and The Embassy Visual Effects, and he signed with Spy Films in Toronto. In 2007, he directed a trio of films known as "Landfall" to promote the video game "Halo 3." Before directing his first feature film, Neill directed the shorts "Tetra Vaal" (2004), "Alive in Joburg" (2005), "Tempbot" (2006), and "Yellow" (2006). After Peter Jackson saw a reel of Blomkamp's shorts and commercial work, he hired Neill to direct a feature film based on "Halo," but the project fell apart. Jackson later decided to produce a full-length adaptation of "Alive in Joburg" titled "District 9." Neill directed and co-wrote the science-fiction blockbuster, which grossed $210.8 million against a $30 million budget and earned four Academy Award nominations. The film won more than 30 awards, and it starred Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James.

Next, Blomkamp wrote, directed, and produced the 2013 dystopian science-fiction film "Elysium." The film starred Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, and Diego Luna and earned $286.1 million at the box office. Neill then directed another dystopian science-fiction film, 2015's "Chappie," which he also co-wrote and executive produced. The film brought in $102.1 million at the box office and starred Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, and Hugh Jackman. Blomkamp directed the 2016 short "The Escape" (which he also wrote), and the following year, he directed 14 shorts, including "Rakka," "Firebase," "Cooking with Bill: Sushi," "Zygote," "Praetoria," "Gdansk," and "Lima." He wrote 11 of the shorts he directed in 2017, and he produced several of them as well. Neill wrote, directed, and produced the 2021 supernatural horror film "Demonic," which starred Carly Pope and was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, Blomkamp directed the short "Off the Grid – Switcher Part 1," followed by his fifth feature film, "Gran Turismo," in 2023. "Gran Turismo" is a biographical sports drama starring David Harbour and Orlando Bloom, and it grossed $122.2 million at the box office. Based on the video game series of the same name, "Gran Turismo" received a Game Award nomination for Best Adaptation. In 2020, Neill co-founded Gunzilla Games and began serving as the company's Chief Creative Officer and working on the battle royale video game "Off The Grid." The game entered early access in October 2024. In March 2025, Gunzilla Games acquired the magazine "Game Informer" from GameStop nearly a year after the publication had folded. The company announced that it had hired back the staff members that had been laid off and planned to resume publication of the magazine later in the year.

Personal Life

Neill and his wife, screenwriter Terri Tatchell, have a daughter named Cassidy. Tatchell co-wrote "Yellow," "District 9," "Chappie," and "Zygote" with Blomkamp. Neill holds Canadian citizenship.

Awards and Nominations

In 2010, Blomkamp received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture for "District 9" (shared with Terri Tatchell). "District 9" earned Neill awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, Austin Film Critics Association, Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards, Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards, Online Film & Television Association Awards, and Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. In 2001, he received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series and an International Monitor Award for Film Originated Television Series – Best Visual Effects for "Dark Angel." For "Elysium," Blomkamp earned a Hollywood Film Award nomination for the Hollywood Movie Award, a Jupiter Award nomination for Best International Film, and a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award nomination for Best Film. He also received a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award nomination for Best Short Film for "Rakka." In 2021, "Demonic" earned an Official Fantàstic Competition nomination for Best Motion Picture at the Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival.