A new, live-action Star Trek series is in the works, this time from Justin Simien, the writer-director of Dear White People and The Haunted Mansion, and Star Trek: Lower Decks voice actress Tawny Newsome. She portrays one of the lead characters, Ensign Beckett Mariner, and also played her in live action for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The announcement was made during the Star Trek Universe panel in Hall H at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. The new series will be an action comedy that centres on Federation outsiders who are working on a gleaming resort planet. Not only that, but their day-to-day lives are being broadcast to the entire quadrant. Sources say the show may have workplace comedy tones of The Office and Parks and Recreation.
Justin Simien has history with the franchise, having previously stated that The Next Generation was a key influence on his writing for Dear White People. Newsome, meanwhile, became a writer on the upcoming Starfleet Academy series and impressed Alex Kurtzman to such an extent that he referred to her as a “stone cold assassin of a writer”. The writing pair convinced Kurtzman to develop the series for Paramount+, which they will also produce.
The show, if it receives a series order, would join a line-up of live-action and animated series that includes Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and the upcoming, aforementioned Starfleet Academy.
Do you enjoy the Edinburgh Fringe? Do you like planetary science? Do you enjoy a really, really comfortable seat?
If the answer to all of these questions is ‘yes’, then Dynamic Earth, tucked away near the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, has got you covered.
Bravely, they’re dipping a toe into being involved with the intensity of Edinburgh’s annual festival season, and hosting two events throughout August. We were invited to a preview of ‘You Are Here’, a 45-minute journey through the solar system, demonstrating our place within it.
An actual astronomer leads us through the incredible imagery – of our planet, of the moons of Saturn, and even of Edinburgh itself. The imagery is staggering, with details that technology now allows us to see clearly, often for the first time.
Alongside mentions of the two Voyager missions, there’s also references to crewed space-flight, and exactly how close most of those missions have stayed to our planet.
This is a staggering piece of entertainment, which also delivers solid scientific facts in a way that is accessible to even those of us who found GCSE Science a bit much.
Alongside this expedition into the far reaches of the Milky Way, the Planetarium is also showing images of the sound system accompanied by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. There are multiple showings of this, the full 1973 album, playing in rep with You Are Here.
And the seats really are the most comfortable in the fringe!
Planetarium Lates continues at Dynamic Earth EH8 8AS until August 24th. See their website for full details of show dates and times.
The long-awaited first trailer for the Michelle Yeoh-starring film, Star Trek: Section 31, is finally here to reenergise the franchise. Paramount+ revealed a two-minute first look at the Star Trek: Discovery spinoff movie, which has Everything Everywhere All at OnceOscar-winning actress Yeoh reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou.
Section 31 sees Georgiou joining a secret “black ops” division of Starfleet, which will see her “tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets,” and “facing the sins of her past”. The trailer, which you can watch below, has a much more rebellious, energetic vibe than recent Star Trek fare.
The television film is directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi from a script by Craig Sweeny. Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, Sam Richardson, Sven Ruygrok, Robert Kazinsky, Humberly Gonzalez, and James Hiroyuki Liao also star.
The road to Section 31 was not a direct one: it was originally conceived as a spinoff series in 2017 during the filming of the first season of Discovery, before entering talks in 2018. The project seemed to pick up steam in 2019 when it went into active development with Yeoh attached to star, before growing stagnant in subsequent years. It wasn’t until last year that the project was ordered as a film.
Star Trek: Section 31 will premiere on Paramount+ in early 2025.
In a shocking twist of events, Robert Downey Jr. was announced to be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom, aka Victor von Doom, one of the greatest villains in comic book lore. The news was revealed at Comic-Con to a crowd that promptly lost their minds.
“If we’re going to bring Victor Von Doom to the screen — he is one of the more complex characters in all of comics … this is potentially one of the more entertaining characters in all of fiction,” said Joe Russo in Hall H. “If we’re going to do this … then we are going to need the greatest actor in the world.”
In all honesty, this feels like a cheap, desperate move from Kevin Feige to right the downward trend in Marvel movies’ box office performance post-2019, and an attempt to hastily reorient Phase 6’s arc after the arrest and conviction of Jonathan Majors removed Kang from the slate. It also feels like a betrayal of Iron Man’s character, who Downey portrayed for a decade and who received one of the greatest send-offs in Avengers: Endgame, along with a heart-wrenching epilogue in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Watch the live announcement, in which Robert Downey Jr. first steps out as Doctor Doom, below:
Taking place from October 29th to November 3rd, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival has unveiled the poster for the 2024 edition of the premiere Italian sci-fi festival, as well as the first wave of movie announcements.
The poster was designed by Michele Rech, aka Zerocalcare, one of the most beloved authors of the Italian and international comics scene. The poster illustrates the challenges and fears that generative artificial intelligence has brought up. As Zerocalcare explains, “The poster tells the story of the distance between how I imagined science fiction as a kid and how my expectations have evolved: we used to think that in the future machines would do the alienating and exhausting jobs, leaving humans free to dedicate themselves to the arts. Today, quite the opposite, the evolution of artificial intelligence shows us a possible dystopia in which machines replace us in drawing and writing, while people continue to wake up in the morning to go to their worksite”.
The first films announced that will be screened at this year’s festival are: Frédéric Jardin’s Survive, Brian Hanson’s The Bunker, starring Tony Todd, Clark Baker’s Test Screening, Joanne Mitchel’s Broken Bird, Mike Hermosa’s hilarious The Invisible Raptor, Michael Felker’s Things will be Different, Amanda Kramer’s documentary So Unreal, Calvin Lee Reeder’s The A-Frame, and Jon Spira’s The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee. These films will form part of the alliance the festival has with the UK’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest. Alan Jones, co-director of FrightFest is also the artistic director of Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, and he said of the announcement: “Because I am also the co-director of FrightFest, I see a very wide selection of genre films on both the busy FrightFest and Trieste Science+Fiction submission platforms. So there is a certain crossover aspect that I wholeheartedly embrace because if a title works for the discerning FrightFest audience, I know it will also work for the Trieste Science+Fiction spectator too”.
Speaking of the AI element, Alan said: “From the past to the present and the future, AI is in all our lives. That’s the reason the Trieste Science+Fiction mission statement this year is ‘BrAInstorm the MegaFuture’, something the global community needs to do as a matter of urgency”.
The BunkerThings Will Be DifferentSo Unreal
The 24th edition of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival promises a packed schedule of events and film previews. Held at the Politeama Rossetti and Teatro Miela, this year’s festival will showcase the finest global science fiction productions, encompassing a spectrum from horror to classic sci-fi. There will be no shortage of events dedicated to the connection between science and science fiction: Mondofuturo, the series of meetings to dialogue with popularisers and communicators of science about the world of tomorrow; IVIPRO Days, the annual event dedicated to video games as a resource for telling the story of cultural heritage; and the Fantastic Film Forum, a series of events dedicated to professionals in the film and audio-visual industry. Among this year’s novelties is the first edition of the Mondofuturo Literary Prize, an award for the best original science fiction book published in Italy in 2023, promoted by the national research organisation Area Science Park and the Film and Audiovisual Research and Experimentation Center ‘La Cappella Underground’.
The cheeky British comedies of the 1970s – Confessions of a Window Cleaner and its various follow-ups – get a modern, queer reimagining in Secrets of a Wallaby Boy, a fantastic new indie comedy made in Manchester.
Weird Rainbow Films today announces – exclusively via STARBURST – that Secrets of a Wallaby Boy has been picked up by distributors Bohemia Media and will be released digitally on 28th October this year.
The movie stars Brandon McCaffrey (Spectrum, Braxton Butcher) as Tim Coaster, a horny and inept young lad who gets a job for cycle courier service Wallaby, alongside Billie Hindle (known for horror podcast The Magnus Protocol) as his best friend Jade.
There are some recognisable stars involved too. Mark Benton (Anna and the Apocalypse) plays Tim’s bumbling dad, horror icon Laurence R. Harvey (The Human Centipede 2) plays a sinister MP, and the Sixth Doctor himself Colin Baker provides the voice of Bruce, Wallaby’s animated mascot.
We love to champion indie movies here at STARBURST, but this is one that we’re particularly thrilled to talk about, as it’s the debut feature as writer/director from our own senior editorial assistant, Kieron Moore.
Kieron said: “I think STARBURST readers will really enjoy Secrets of a Wallaby Boy – it’s a retro-meets-modern comedy with some real indie spirit (by which I mean, we had barely any money), and there are a few genre-related surprises too. It’s really exciting to announce our partnership with the lovely people at Bohemia Media, and I can’t wait for the movie to find its audience.”
Secrets of a Wallaby Boy will be released on digital platforms, in the UK and US, on 28th October. The team are also planning a number of screenings across the UK in the weeks building up to it. Check out the trailer below, and follow Weird Rainbow Films on social media for updates.
Hex Studios has announced their next movie, Black Chariot. Said to be an intense and deeply disturbing supernatural horror in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock, it’ll be directed by Lawrie Brewster (Lord of Tears). As well as the master of suspense’s films such as Rebecca (1942) and Psycho (1960), Brewster wants to combine with his love of classic film noir and Val Lewton’s atmospheric classics. The film is set to be launched on Kickstarter and you can sign up to prepare for the crowdfunding blast-off now.
Director Lawrie Brewster said of the project, “My childhood was spent haunted and mesmerized by the romantic and seductive veil Hitchcock cast over me. It shaped my vision of horror, sensuality, and my understanding of fear and obsession. I am thrilled to finally produce a horror film that combines my love for the genre with inspirations drawn from his incomparable genius. Creating a period film and a love letter to that era, in a portrayal of horror that is as hauntingly beautiful as it is terrifying, is a dream come true.”
Black Chariot stars Laurence R. Harvey of The Human Centipede series, in an intense dramatic role that may evoke comparisons with Peter Lorre’s notorious child-killer in Fritz Lang’s M (1931). Harvey plays a ruthless manipulator who coerces three young men – Hex Studio newcomers Novarro Ramon, Dorian Todd, and Sam Barclay – into carrying out the perfect crime: stealing a valuable red briefcase whose mysterious contents drive our characters to a dark meeting place. Here, they encounter a spine-tingling figure known as ‘The Devil’ (Richard Pate), along with two vicious private detectives played by Nick Ford and Marco Rinaldi.
A regular in Hex movies, Megan Tremethick also stars, and she commented, “I felt irresistibly drawn to Black Chariot… by its ethereal and uncanny storyline, which felt so, so reminiscent of the heart and spirit of Carnival of Souls, one of the most haunting films I’ve ever seen.” Tremethick’s images from Black Chariot on Instagram caught the attention of renowned horror filmmaker James Wan, who sent a personal message wishing the team good luck.
Producer Sarah Daly added, “With Black Chariot, we’re pushing the boundaries of indie horror and the genre. Our films and storytelling defy trends and pop culture norms. We are unapologetic in our love for past cinema, and we aim to champion and resurrect a style of genre filmmaking that is timeless and will be enjoyed for years to come.”
The enigmatic Novarro Ramon, who intriguingly lives his life as the imagined reincarnation of silent era star Ramon Novarro, stated, “Black Chariot is more than a film for me; it’s a spiritual journey through time, merging the silent era’s mystique with modern-day horror.”
In Black Chariot, the gang’s crime and ensuing tragedy culminate in the release of supernatural forces, forcing the criminals and a beautiful hostage in their charge, played by Megan Tremethick (aka Miss Amicus), into a battle for survival against an unlikely foe. As night falls, they must evade the red headlights of a black Wolseley 15/50 that moves silently through the dark. But that is the least of their problems, for this black chariot does not drive itself alone – within travels a figure of nightmares, dressed in white and moving silently through the shadows.
Shot in black and white, Black Chariot will usher in a new era in Hex Studios’ line-up of retro-inspired horror films. This follows the wake of sister company Amicus Productions’ record-breaking crowdfunding campaign and Megan Tremethick’s groundbreaking campaign for Spoiling You, which raised the most funds for a horror film directed by a woman.
The pre-launch page for Black Chariot is now available on Kickstarter. Once the campaign launches, fans will be able to pre-order Blu-rays and other merchandise, as well as other special offers.
Late Night with the Devil actor David Dastmalchian is diving back into the world of comics, partnering with the newly-launched genre company Panick Entertainment for a new horror.
Dastmalchian previously made his comics debut with Dark Horse title Count Crowley, and will co-write an untitled revenge tale with longtime associate Leah Kilpatrick. The comic is set to be a five-issue limited series.
Via THR, Dastmalchian said, “I am so excited because Leah and I are joining the Panick team and we are cooking up some very gory, scary, spooktacular comic ideas… Beware.”
Panick Entertainment is headed by Kris Longo, the former publisher of Heavy Metal Magazine. Panick is being described as a new horror and science fiction venture founded by a coterie of entertainment and comics industry veterans, including several from the world of DC. They aim to focus on genre storytelling, beginning in the field of comics and graphic novels, then platforming that into films, television, games and other media.
Other than David Dastmalchian and among other talents expected to contribute to Panick’s initial slate are comics veteran Bart Sears and Michelle Sears, Shannon Eric Denton, screenwriter Dirk Blackman, Brendan Columbus, and artist Tehani Farr.
Comic book creator Todd McFarlane has been promising an upcoming Spawn movie for many years now, and while it’s had its setbacks, it looks like a significant part of its development hell is coming to an end: King Spawn now has a completed script, and McFarlane and producer Jason Blum’s Blumhouse are beginning to meet with directors for the film.
The update comes two years after they commissioned a script from rising scribe Matt Mixon, Falcon and the Winter Soldier creator Malcolm Spellman, and Joker Oscar nominee and Joker: Folie A Deuxwriter Scott Silver. It’s unclear whether Jamie Foxx, who has long been attached to star, will still be involved.
The Spawn comics centre on a former black-ops agent who makes a deal with a demon after being betrayed and killed. McFarlane notes that, as they prepare to approach studios with their script, it helps that two of the year’s biggest tentpoles are R-rated.
“Deadpool is a fun R. Something like Joker 2 is a serious R. Our movie is going to be super serious and dark and gritty,” says McFarlane via THR. “It’s going to be an at times a heavy movie. If you like serious drama, with meaningful themes that are relevant and that may even some reflection of the world we live in, then this has a lot of those elements in it.”
Minor Threats, the hit comic book from actor-comedian Patton Oswalt and screenwriter Jordan Blum, is being adapted to television at Netflix.
Oswalt and Blum will both serve as writers, showrunners, and executive producers on the live-action adaptation. Scott Hepburn, who drew the title, will also executive produce, alongside Dark Horse Entertainment’s Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg. As you may remember, Dark Horse has a first-look deal with Netflix, which is how we got the popular superhero series Umbrella Academy, whose fourth and final season will release to the streamer August 8th.
Similarly to Umbrella Academy, Minor Threats offers an off-kilter take on the superhero genre. In the first issue of Minor Threats: “It’s hard out there for a supervillain. Not the world conquerors, chaos engines, or arch-nemeses . . . but the little guys. The ones who put on uniforms, knock over jewelry stores, and get tied to poles. And things are about to get worse. The psychotic Stickman has murdered Kid Dusk, sidekick to Twilight City’s premier crime-fighter, the Insomniac. The Insomniac’s teammates are tearing Twilight apart, turning it into a police state–desperate to capture Stickman and stop the Insomniac from crossing that final line which he may never come back from. Caught in the middle are the small-time c-list villains, finding it impossible to walk down the street without being harassed by these heroes. With a bounty on the Stickman’s head, former villain Playtime decides to assemble a ragtag team of villains to take down the Stickman and kill him themselves.”
Oswalt and Jordan previously created and showran Marvel’s stop-motion animated series, M.O.D.O.K., which streamed on Hulu.
The Minor Threats adaptation is still in early development, according to THR’s exclusive.
