When The Last Starfighter was released in 1984, it disappointed at the box office, but thanks to the home video market, it slowly became a sci-fi cult classic. In the decades since, there's been speculation about if The Last Starfighter could get a sequel or even be rebooted, but Jonathan Beteul, who wrote the original movie's screenplay, said a few years back that there were issues surrounding the rights to the property preventing that from happening. However, now it appears that those complications are no longer an issue, as Rogue One writer Gary Whitta is working with Beteul on getting a Last Starfighter reboot off the ground. He revealed as such when he posted four pieces on concept art on his Twitter page, which you can see below.
These ship illustrations from Matt Allsopp certainly look cool, but they don't exactly clarify what the plan is for bringing The Last Starfighter back. Fortunately, Gary Whitta spoke with io9 and described what he's working on as a "combination of a reboot and sequel" that "honors the legacy of the original film while passing the torch to a new generation." Going off that description, I suspect that this new Last Starfighter movie would be in the vein of Jurassic World, where it takes place in the same universe as the original, but follow a new cast of characters. Whitta also said that there are still some remaining business issues to work out, but he and Jonathan Beteul are working hard to make this new movie a reality. Whitta explained:
It's a passion project for Jon and me both. And I know we have a great movie here. But we still need to deal with some remaining biz stuff before we can really move forward. We've had a lot of talks with Universal. We're determined, one way or another, to make this happen. Trying to create in Hollywood is always like pushing a boulder uphill, particularly when there are archaic rights issues involved, but we're going to keep trying. That's the lesson of Starfighter... when you get your chance you've got to grab it with both hands, and hold on tight.
For those unfamiliar with The Last Starfighter, the story centered on Alex Rogan, a teenager who was skilled at playing the Starfighter arcade game, where the player has to defend The Frontier from the invading Ko-Dan Armada, led by Xur. Upon hitting the highest score on Starfighter, Alex learns from the game's creator, Centauri, that the game was a test, and with Alex being the undisputed best player, he's taken out into space and must use his skills to pilot an actual ship (called the Gunstar) to help the Rylan Star League fight the Ko-Dan Empire. It's been nearly 35 years since that movie came out, but we've seen many times in recent years that Hollywood has no trouble churning out sequels/reboots to movies that came out decades ago. So for all the Last Starfighter fans out there, it sounds like you're closer than ever to seeing this property finally revisited on the big screen.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on how this new Last Starfighter project is coming along. For now, head to our 2018 release schedule so you can plan your trips to the movie theater later this year accordingly.
