Disney Bringing Back Lucasfilm Games

X-Wing Alliance

Well, this is certainly all kinds of intriguing. Yes, as the headline suggests, Lucasfilm Games is making a return.

For those unfamiliar with Lucasfilm Games, that was the gaming house formerly known as LucasArts; a gaming house that sadly came to a close once Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2013. Courtesy of PCGamesN, however, the House of Mouse is now looking to restart that gaming label.

To get to the specifics, Disney isn’t actually bringing LucasArts back, per se. Instead, this new division will be working under the Lucasfilm Games name. Already, Disney is putting the feelers out for talent to come and work on such video games. This marks Disney’s first real foray into the world of video games since Disney Infinity was shut down in 2016.

Of course, LucastArts was so often driven by the Star Wars brand, although the video game license for all things Star Wars is currently at Electronic Arts. While that restricts things in terms of new Star Wars games, it’s believed Lucasfilm Games could strike a deal to revisit old favourites such as Jedi Knight, Knight of the Old Republic, Tie Fighter and The Force Unleashed.

While Star Wars was clearly a popular element of LucasArts, there was a lot more to it than merely games set in a galaxy far, far away. One other big property for the division was the stunning Monkey Island franchise, not to mention Maniac Mansion, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and a whole lot more.

Disney has yet to publicly comment on Lucasfilm Games just yet, although it’s believed that all of this will be made official at either Star Wars Celebration, E3 or D23.

Expect more on all of this as we get it.

Complete List of 2019 STARBURST Fantasy Awards Winners

This past weekend saw the 2019 edition of the STARBURST International Film Festival take place at MediaCityUK, and boy was it a weekend to remember.

In amongst the madness feature films and shorts played across three rooms over the Friday and Saturday, with genre icons Lloyd Kaufman (and his good wife The Commish, of course!) and Luigi Cozzi on hand to take in an event brimming with positivity, with likeminded souls, that had some seriously talented people showcasing their work, and that, yes, had a well-positioned bar to hand.

As is always the case with the STARBURST International Film Festival, the event came to a close with the famed STARBURST Fantasy Awards in which the highly coveted (don’t let us see those on eBay!) Roboto statues were up for grabs.

With five features and 17 shorts in consideration for the STARBURST Fantasy Awards, the winners were:

Best Screenplay: Robert Duncan (Revenant Relocation Officers)

Best Short: Terminal (director Cal O’Connell, writer Max Gee)

Best Director: Lawrie Brewster (Automata)

Best Performance: Scarlett Rayner (Indweller)

Best Feature: Clickbait (directors Michael J. Epstein & Sophia Cacciola, writers Jeremy Long & Michael J. Epstein)

Independents Day Award: David Gilbank

Hall of Fame Award: Lloyd Kaufman

Seriously, we try not to toot our horn too much here at Moonbase Alpha, but what a weekend that was. On behalf of the STARBURST team, we would like to extend a huge thank you to everybody who attended the STARBURST International Film Festival. For the readers of our magazine, thank you for your continued and passionate support. For the filmmakers and talent who attended or submitted content, thank you for providing such a ridiculously high quality of films and shorts for us all to enjoy. For the crew who helped make sure that the event went off without a hitch (something that still feels weird saying…), thank you for being nothing short of flawless and fantastic.

Now while we enjoy the fallout of the 2019 STARBURST International Film Festival, that’s not to say we’re going to be resting on our laurels. Oh no, we’ll be back again in 2020 and we’ll be tasked with somehow topping what was the quintessential genre weekend for independent film. Again, we thank you all for making this weekend so special, and we hope to see you again next year.

Florence Pugh in Talks for BLACK WIDOW

Florence Pugh

With Marvel Studios now finally at work on a solo movie for Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, now comes word on a possibly new addition for the film.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, Fighting with My Family’s Florence Pugh has entered early talks to play a rival of Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. It’s not confirmed, but speculation has this rival character pegged as Yelena Belova. In the comics, Yelena is a complete equal of Widow’s but has slightly different morals.

To be directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow is believed to be a prequel movie of sorts set before Natasha made her MCU debut in Iron Man 2.

As ever, expect more on Black Widow as we get it.

Netflix Developing Live-Action WARRIOR NUN Series

Warrior Nun

Well, this could be all kinds of cool.

Yes, as the headline suggests, Netflix is developing a live-action Warrior Nun series. And not only that, but the show has already begun to amass its cast.

Via Deadline, Netflix is adapting Ben Dunn’s Warrior Nun Areala comic and has brought in Leviano’s Alba Baptista to headline the series. Baptista will be playing Ava, the 19-year-old orphan who is drafted into the Order of the Cruciform Sword to battle the demons that roam the Earth.

Baptista will be joined in Warrior Nun by Toya Turner as veteran Order member Shotgun Mary, Tristan Ulloa as Order leader Father Vincent, Thekla Reuten as tech-savvy Jillian Salvius, Kristina Tonteri-Young as Order strategist Young Sister Beatrice, Lorena Andrea as the cocky Sister Lilith, and Emilio Sakraya as criminal head honcho JC.

Continuum and Bad Blood’s Simon Barry is on writing and executive producer duties for Warrior Nun.

Expect more on this latest comic book adaptation as it continues to develop.

Talks Ongoing for SLIDERS Return

Sliders

Could the Sliders TV series be returning? Crazier things have happened…

The source of these new rumblings of the old favourite returning to the small screen is actually Sliders star John Rhys-Davies. Speaking at Toronto Comicon (as reported by Flickering Myth), Rhys-Davies revealed talks have taken place about tentatively reviving Sliders.

As Davies explained, “Jerry [O’Connell] had been pestering me for a number of years and we’re actually talking to NBC at the moment to see if there’s any possibility of rebooting the series. They’re looking into the basic question of who actually owns it. At the moment, we don’t seem to be able to find that out.”

The Lords of the Rings star added, “I would do it again, if just to show how it should be done. It could have been the best show on television, it could still be on the air. I think maybe if we got another chance at doing it with the new technology, but also new stories, I think we could do something quite extraordinary. I wouldn’t want to do it for the rest of my life, but I would do it for a season or two if it was right.”

Starring Jerry O’Connell and John Rhys-Davies, Sliders originally ran from 1995 to 2000, focussing on a group of travellers who use a wormhole to traverse between parallel dimensions.

As ever, expect more on all of this if and when it develops further.

GAME OF THRONES Prequel Series Adds Miranda Richardson

Miranda Richardson

With the Game of Thrones prequel series currently continuing to amass its core cast, now comes word on the hugely anticipated effort adding an Oscar nominee to its ranks.

Courtesy of TVLine, the to-be-titled Thrones prequel offering has brought in Miranda Richardson. In addition to Oscar nominations for Damage and Tom & Viv, Richardson is likely best known to genre fans for playing Rita Skeeter in the Harry Potter franchise. At this stage, there’s no news on which character the actress will be playing in this upcoming prequel show.

Richardson joins a cast that currently includes the likes of Naomi Watts, Josh Whitehouse, Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower and Alex Sharp.

Jane Goldman and George R.R. Martin have developed a story that is set thousands of years before Game of Thrones, with Goldman penning the series. Given the timeline of the prequel show, that means that no existing Thrones characters will be appearing.

If you remember, this is just one of several other Game of Thrones shows in development right now. The Goldman and Martin-crafted series is the only one with any cast in place right now, but a further three further prequel shows set in different periods are also in development.

As for Game of Thrones itself, the main show will return for its final season in only a matter of weeks.

Horror Channel Serves Up Some April Treats

april horror

Slashers and vampires take the top billing for Horror Channel’s April schedule with the UK TV premiere of Todd Strauss-Schulson’s brilliant The Final Girls (on April 19th at 9pm) and the channel premiere of Tom Holland’s legendary Fright Night (April 13th at 9pm).

There are plenty of other treats, too, with Takashi Shimizu’s Flight 7500 on April 12th, Peter Dukes’ mind-bending Escape Room (April 5th), Outcast starring James Nesbitt (April 6th), the superb adaptation of The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe (April 20th), and going a bit further back, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation – which stars Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger – and Pete Walker’s seventies classic Schizo hit the channel on April 26th and 27th, respectively.

Find out more by heading over to www.horrorchannel.co.uk. You can tune in on Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freeview 70, or Freesat 138.

Issue 459 – Out Now!

459 NS

Big Red is back as we celebrate Hellboy returning to our screens with a look forward to the new movie and a history of the character in comics and beyond – including the board game from Mantic! If that’s not enough, we countdown our Top 20 demons!

Elsewhere, we get to the bottom of Shazam! – a different kind of superhero, ponder what we can expect from Avengers: Endgame, get resurrected with Pet Sematary and go on the search for Bigfoot with Missing Link. If that’s not enough, we get under the head of the legendary Frank Sidebottom and his obsession with sci-fi ahead of the release of the documentary Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story.

We also talk to WolfCop director Lowell Dean about his new film SuperGrid, and Rupert Wyatt, who helmed Rise of the Planet of the Apes reveals all about Captive State.

If that’s not enough, The Priory of the Orange Tree author Samantha Shannon gives us an exclusive insight into her love of dragons plus Horror Obscura looks back at Tom Holland’s classic Fright Night.

Plus all your favourite COLUMNS, NEWS, REVIEWS and much MORE from the worlds of SCI-FI, HORROR and FANTASY!

Destin Daniel Cretton to Direct Marvel’s SHANG-CHI Movie

Shang-Chi

We’ve known for a few months now that Marvel Studios was at work on a Shang-Chi movie, and now comes word on who’ll be directing the film.

Courtesy of Deadline, Destin Daniel Cretton has signed on to helm the hugely intriguing picture. Cretton is likely best known for directing the Brie Larson-starring Short Term 12 and the similarly-Larson-starring The Glass Castle.

What makes Shang-Chi so intriguing is that Marvel Studios is looking to put the spotlight on Asian-Americans and their cultures; much like the stunning Black Panther did for African-Americans and African customs. Shang-Chi will feature an Asian lead as the titular hero, with Asian-American screenwriter Dave Callaham having begun work on the script.

For those not overly familiar with Shang-Chi, he is a character who debuted back in 1973’s Marvel Special Edition #15 as a creation of Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. The son of Fu-Manchu, Shang-Chi is brought up to be the true master of kung fu – only for that to all take a surprise turn when he realises that his father was actually up to no good. Of course, the creation of this character was done as a way to capitalise on the martial arts boom ushered in by Bruce Lee in the ’60s and ‘70s, and like those kung fu movies of the day, Shang-Chi wasn’t quite so popular by the time the ‘80s rolled around. In fact, his own title – Master of Kung Fu – was cancelled in 1983, leaving him as simply a supporting character who would occasionally turn up in other heroes’ stories. That was until more modern times, though, with Shang-Chi having featured as part of the Secret Avengers and even the main Avengers team more recently.

As ever, expect more on Shang-Chi as it continues to develop.

TITANS Lands its Deathstroke

Deathstroke Titans

With Titans having impressed many with its debut season last year, now comes word on a huge addition for the show’s impending second season.

Courtesy of The Wrap, NYPD Blue’s Esai Morales has been cast as Slade Wilson, aka the clinical and calculating Deathstroke. A badass mercenary, Deathstroke is somebody who has so often butted heads with the Teen Titans in the comic book world, not least in the iconic Judas Contract arc. Which given how the final episode of Titans played out, could well be a possibility at some point in the future. But we’ll stop there before we venture into potential spoiler territory.

To date, Deathstroke is likely best known in live-action for Manu Bennett’s depiction of the character in The CW’s Arrow. For many genre fans, Arrow’s second season is often seen as one of the greatest seasons of modern genre TV; so much of that being down to Slade Wilson’s descent into madness.

Elsewhere, Antonio Sabato Jr played a rather different Deathstroke in Lois & Clark, Michael Hogan played an older take on Slade in Smallville, and even Arrow itself has featured several other Deathstrokes. By that, we mean that Arrow saw Jeffrey C. Robinson play the Bill Wintergreen version of Deathstroke in the initial “island” flashbacks, then Jamie Andrew Cutler played Grant Wilson’s 2046 version of Deathstroke, and we’ve even seen Liam Hall pop up as Slade’s other son, Joe Wilson. Then, of course, Joe Manganiello turned up as Deathstroke in the Justice League post-credits scene. That itself was to set the character up for an appearance opposite Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader in The Batman. Since Affleck has departed that project, however, all of that is a little up in the air.

As ever, expect more on Titans’ second year as it continues to develop. In the meantime, we can all look forward to Slade Wilson turning up to cause all kinds of problems for our heroes.