After many false dawns, it may well be that a follow-up to the 1984 cult favourite The Last Starfighter is finally pressing ahead.
After several decades of deadlock, with filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg having tried and failed to get this project off the ground, it looks like there might finally be some progress towards a sequel to The Last Starfighter.
Jonathan Betuel, the original film’s co-writer, has been chatting to Moviehole and he has confirmed that a sequel is being penned in collaboration with Gary Whitta, co-writer of Rogue One.
This is key because for years Betual, who has key rights over the production of sequels of the film, has previously insisted that he does not want a sequel to the film to be made. As such, filmmakers such as Spielberg and Seth Rogen have tried, without success, to get the project off the ground. But now, it seems like it may finally happen.
Made in 1984, the original film follows the adventures of a teenage boy living in an American trailer park, who is an ace at Starfighter, a seemingly-innocuous arcade game. Upon finally completing the game however, he is whisked into space to learn that the game was in fact part of a galaxy-wide test to find the pilot capable of defeating the evil Ko Dan Empire. The film was mostly notable for being an early forerunner in the use of extensive CGI, something we covered over at our YouTube channel here.
A script is, it seems, finally written, with Betuel claiming he fully has the rights once more. This too, is important as there was reportedly confusion over whether Universal or Warner Bros. had rights to another film depending on whether it was a sequel, reboot or remake. Happily though, Betuel, for years the sticking point, seems to be fully committed to seeing the project to fruition. More news on this one as we have it.
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
