With seemingly nothing off bounds in terms of remakes, reboots, reimaginings, and rehashes, yet another old favourite is getting a fresh lick of paint for a new generation.
As the headline says, a new take on 1984’s The Last Starfighter is in development, with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Gary Whitta co-writing the screenplay alongside the writer of the original movie, Jonathan Betuel.
Not only that, Whitta went one further to showcase some concept art on his social media channels; concept art as created by Matt Allsopp.
Okay, probably shouldn’t show you this so early but here’s a little something I’ve been tinkering on with my co-writer Jonathan Betuel. You might recognize the ships. Thanks to the amazing Matt Allsopp (lead concept artist on ROGUE ONE) for creating these images for us. pic.twitter.com/CIobLYYRHk
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) April 4, 2018
People seemed excited by the first tweet so here’s a tiny bit more of Matt’s concept art. Can’t show anything more after this, it’s all too spoilery 🙂 #GreetingsStarfighter pic.twitter.com/FydxLwEfrt
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) April 4, 2018
Speaking to i09 about the redo, Whitta enthused, “It is a deeply special movie for me. The idea that playing a game could be a magic ticket to a real space adventure, I just always thought that concept was utterly brilliant.”
Whitta added that he and Betuel have got together and discussed what is now “a fully developed story that is a combination of reboot and sequel that we both think honors the legacy of the original film while passing the torch to a new generation. We’re both very excited about it creatively.”
While a new Last Starfighter film is indeed in development, Whitta went on to clarify that there are still some things to sort on the business side of the project, and that initial talks have been ongoing with Universal about finding a home for the film.
For those unfamiliar with the original ’84 movie, the Nick Castle-directed effort saw Lance Guest as a teenager who gets the high score on a video game that saw the player involved in an alien battle up in the stars. Due to this, the game’s creator gets in touch with Guest’s Alex and reveals that the game was actually a training programme of sorts, and before you know it Alex is whisked up to partake in the very real battle between the Rylan Star League and the Ko-Dan Empire.
As ever, expect more on all of this as it continues to develop.
