Josh O’Connor Boards Steven Spielberg Film

josh o'connor in challengers

Challengers star Josh O’Connor will star in Steven Spielberg’s mysterious, as-yet-untitled feature film for Universal Pictures. He joins Emily Blunt, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth and Eve Hewson on the project.

All we know thus far about this feature is that it has sci-fi elements and marks Spielberg’s first ‘tentpole’ since directing Ready Player One in 2018. It is based on a story by the filmmaker, with a screenplay by long-time collaborator David Koepp, whose previous work with Spielberg includes the scripts for Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The film also reunites Spielberg with The Fabelmans and West Side Story collaborator Kristie Macosko Krieger, who will be producing.

Josh O’Connor was most recently seen in the Luca Guadagnino tennis drama Challengers, starring opposite Zendaya and Mike Faist, a role which has put him in the awards mix these coming months. He is currently in production for Kelly Reichardt’s art heist drama The Mastermind, and has signed on to star in Rian Johnson’s upcoming Netflix murder mystery, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

Universal has set a May 15th, 2026 cinema release date for the upcoming film.

Sophie Turner In Talks To Star As LARA CROFT

sophie turner as jean grey in x-men dark phoenix

As previously reported, Lara Croft is expected to return to the small screen with a Tomb Raider series at Amazon Prime Video, and Deadline now writes that Game of Thrones and X-Men star Sophie Turner is in talks to star.

Fleabag icon Phoebe Waller-Bridge is developing and writing the upcoming adventure series, which Amazon has described as being epic and globe-trotting. Croft has been played in live-action by both Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander.

“If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode. Tomb Raider has been a huge part of my life and I feel incredibly privileged to be bringing it to television with such passionate collaborators. Lara Croft means a lot to me, as she does to many, and I can’t wait to go on this adventure. Bats ‘n all,” Waller-Bridge said in a statement. She will executive produce the project alongside Ryan Andolina and Amanda Greenblatt.

Never ones to pass up some cash-grab opportunities, Amazon also announced they were developing a Tomb Raider movie and video game, all intended to be set in the same universe.

Sophie Turner has recently been seen in a number of TV mini-series like Joan, The Staircase, and Survive.

JENTRY CHAU VS. THE UNDERWORLD Drops Series Trailer

ali wong in jentry chau vs. the underworld trailer

Netflix has debuted the trailer for their upcoming animated show, Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld, a supernatural action series starring Birds of Prey and Paper Girls‘ Ali Wong. Wong executive produces the 13-episode season alongside Aron Eli Coleite, which hails from first-time showrunner Echo Wu.

The series follows the titular Jentry Chau (Wong), a Chinese-American teen living in a small Texas town and nearing her sixteenth birthday, who finds out a demon king is hunting her for the supernatural powers she’s been working her whole life to repress. With the help of her weapons expert great-aunt and a millennia-old jiangshi (a Chinese hopping vampire), Jentry must now fight an entire underworld’s worth of monsters and demons while also balancing the horrors of high school and the pitfalls of teenage girlhood, from romantic interests to grappling for her independence.

Lori Tan Chinn voices Jentry’s aunt Gugu and Saturday Night Live alum Bowen Yang as Jentry’s sidekick, Ed. Additional cast includes Lucy Liu, Jimmy O. Yang, Sheng Wang, A.J. Beckles, and Woosung Kim.

Titmouse serves as the animation studio for the 2D animated series, with Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, and Ben Kalina aboard as executive producers.

Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld premieres on Netflix on December 5th, 2024. Watch the trailer below:

WOLF MAN Trailer Promises Solid Body Horror

wolf man trailer christopher abbott

The full moon has things going awry for Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner in the first full-length Wolf Man trailer, which, word of warning if you like to be surprised, gives a lot away of the plot away. Leigh Whannell, best known for helming The Invisible Man, helms this reimagining of the classic monster film for Universal Pictures.

Abbott stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Garner), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth). But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without.

Whannell directs Wolf Man from a script he co-wrote with Corbett Tuck, as well as Dumb Money’s Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. The film co-stars Sam Jaeger, Ben Prendergast and Benedict Hardie. Blumhouse is producing the pic.

Watch the Wolf Man trailer below, ahead of its release to cinemas on January 17th, 2025.

Science Fiction Novel Wins The Booker Prize

Orbital, a science fiction novel

Science fiction novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey has won the Booker Prize.

The novel is set on the International Space Station and relates the experiences of six astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they contemplate the nature of existence and the current climate emergency. The novel also shifts perspective to more whimsical viewpoints, such as that of an alien and a robot. The book has been compared favourably to popular works such as Stanisław Lem’s Solaris and To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers. Orbital has also been described by critics as ‘beautiful’ and ‘free of plot’.

Orbital, a science fiction novel

Orbital was also nominated for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, which is for “book-length work of imaginative fiction written by a single author” and in honour of science fiction legend Ursula K. Le Guin.

The Booker Prize makes no mention of the winning work being science fiction. Samantha Harvey describes her works as ‘Space Pastoral’, which we at STARBURST will add to our list of ‘other ways to say slow-moving science fiction’.  

The Booker has a long history of lauding works of science fiction whilst pretending the genre doesn’t exit.  For example, previous Booker nominee, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, is a novel set in a dystopian future (and inspiration for the science fiction TV show of the same name), was never labelled as science fiction when it was nominated, despite fulfilling the genre’s critical role in using speculative narrative as a lens to understand real-world concerns. These days it can be found in the science fiction section of your local online bookstore.

The Booker Prize is regarded as a serious and influential award, and winning The Booker Prize is a significant boon to sales of that book.  Harvey is the 21st woman to win since the prize’s inception in 1969. Congratulations to all involved.

Manchester Animation Festival 2024 Launches

Manchester Animation Festival (MAF), the only Oscar-qualifying animation festival in the UK, is currently underway.

Celebrating it’s 10th year, the MAF brings together the animation industry’s top talent, leading professionals, and a wide-ranging programme with fans of animation in mind.

Hosted across Manchester, festival-related events include HOME cinema, The Anthony Burgess Centre, YES, Gasworks, and Bridgewater Hall. 

This November’s lineup includes a special in conversation with legendary filmmaker Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon). Sanders will discuss his latest film, Wild Robot, which will be shown afterward.

There will also be an appearance from the beloved Wallace & Gromit creators Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. As well as a special screening of Richard Williams animated marvel The Thief and the Cobbler, which will include a talk and book signing by Imogen Sutton, Williams’ wife and long-time producer. In addition to these highlights, MAF will offer a packed schedule of industry-focused events at their annual Animation Nation Forum, a family focused day, and the return of the marketplace at the Bridgewater Hall.

Find out more here.

Taron Egerton Joins Thriller Film APEX

taron egerton in black bird apple tv+ series

Taron Egerton is joining Charlize Theron in Apex, the Netflix thriller feature from Baltasar Kormákur.

Details are sparse, but the script reportedly centres on a rock climber and adrenaline junkie, played by Theron, who finds out that nature isn’t the only dangerous element out to get her when she sets out on an expedition in the wild. Egerton will play a psychopath stalking her through the woods.

The script hails from Jeremy Robbins. Kormákur is established as a survival thriller filmmaker, having previously helmed Everest, a star-studded survival adventure about mountain climbers caught in a storm; Adrift, about a couple who face one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history; and Beast, about a father and his two daughters being hunted by a rogue lion.

Taron Egerton broke out with Matthew Vaughn’s actioner franchise The Kingsman, starring in both The Secret Service and The Golden Circle. He also earned global acclaim for his portrayal of Sir Elton John in Rocketman, a role which won him a Golden Globe award for best actor in a musical or comedy. The actor recently finished production on the Apple TV+ arsonist series Firebug, which he stars in and produces. Egerton will next be seen opposite Jason Bateman in the Netflix thriller Carry On.

Lupita Nyong’o Joins Christopher Nolan Film

lupita nyong'o in a quiet place: day one

Lupita Nyong’o is the latest star to join Christopher Nolan’s top-secret film project. She joins an already stacked call sheet that includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Zendaya.

Nolan writes and directs the project for Universal Pictures, which is due to release the feature on July 17th, 2026. Nolan earned his first Academy Award for Oppenheimer last year, which was his first project with Universal after having remained loyal to Warner Bros. since 2002. Nolan moved to Universal after Warner temporarily abandoned exclusive theatrical distribution.

Nolan is keeping so tight-lipped about the project that sources can’t even agree on the genre – some have suggested it would be a period vampire thriller, others a helicopter actioner. The filmmaker is producing alongside his wife and partner, Emma Thomas, for their Syncopy banner. Filming is expected to begin in the first half of 2025.

Lupita Nyong’o is having a good year. She was recently seen in the alien invasion thriller A Quiet Place: Day One, and lent her voice to the protagonist of the animated film The Wild Robot. Her upcoming projects include sports drama Strawweight opposite Chloë Grace Moretz and the comedy-drama Lunik Heist, opposite John Mulaney and Jared Leto.

GAME OF THRONES Feature Film Being Developed At Warner Bros

game of thrones feature film in the works

Westeros could end up on the big screen with news that a Game of Thrones feature film is being developed by Warner Bros.

The project is still in its early stages, with no filmmaker, cast or writer yet attached.

This isn’t the first time the franchise has flirted with a cinematic release. The showrunners of the original Game of Thrones series, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, famously wanted to finish the series with a feature film trilogy instead of its divisive season 8. Author George R.R. Martin was reportedly also supportive of the idea. At the time, however, HBO resisted the idea in order to retain the prestige series as an HBO property.

HBO’s attitudes have shifted since then, with several properties hopping from the big screen to the small screen and vice versa. Matt Reeves’ The Batman, for instance, moved to HBO with the spinoff series The Penguin, and Max will be getting Dune: Prophecy as a spinoff from Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films. HBO is also preparing a television adaptation of the Harry Potter novels. By those standards, it’s unsurprising that HBO would now be more accepting of Game of Thrones making a move.

The project is, however, still in early development, so nothing is set in stone. Stay tuned for updates.

STAR WARS Trilogy Taps Simon Kinberg To Write

star wars new trilogy to be written by simon kinberg

Simon Kinberg is heading into a galaxy far, far away, having signed an expansive deal to both write and produce a new Star Wars feature trilogy for Lucasfilm.

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy will also produce the trilogy. The new story is not intended as a continuation of the Skywalker Saga, state sources, referring to the overall arc of Star Wars Episodes 1 through 9. This trilogy would bring in new characters and a wholly new story, though some characters from previous features may well pop up.

This marks Kinberg’s return to the space opera franchise after co-creating the animated series Star Wars: Rebels with Dave Filoni and Carrie Beck. The Emmy-nominated series’ four-season run ended in 2018. He also worked as a consultant on 2015’s The Force Awakens.

Simon Kinberg is one of the most high-profile writer-producers currently working: as well as helping Paramount to develop their upcoming Star Trek franchise entries, he is also about to go into production on Edgar Wright’s remake of the Stephen King tale The Running Man, also for Paramount.

The next Star Wars project to make it to screens will be the television series Skeleton Crew, which will debut on Disney+ on December 3rd.