The Last Starfighter Sequel Concept Reel Revealed by Rogue One Writer

For many, many years now Rogue One and The Book of Eli screenwriter Gary Whitta has been on a quest to revive the popular 1984 movie The Last Starfighter with a follow-up movie. Many have tried over the years to get a sequel to the classic film made, including Steven Spielberg and Seth Rogen, but to no avail. Speaking during a Twitch stream on his channel today though, Whitta confirmed that development on the new movie continues and that he believes they’re “very close” to getting the project made. Not only that but Whitta revealed a concept reel he co-wrote with original screenwriter Jonathan Betuel that shows off new pieces of concept art (by fellow Lucasfilm alum Matt Allsopp) along with original music by Chris Tilton and original composer Craig Safan! Check it out below!

“What I can tell you… is that we are, I believe, very, very close,” Whitta said on his stream about the sequel, which is titled The Last Starfighters. “Closer than anyone has ever been to making a new Last Starfighter movie, like right on the one yard line. After pushing the boulder uphill for many years we are very, very close. I can’t really say anything more other than that because there’s all stuff happening behind the scenes, there’s things I can’t tell you, but we’re very, very close and I believe it will happen.”

He continued, “This was a huge, huge movie for me as a kid…It’s a fan favorite since the 1980s when it first came out, a lot of people from my generation remember it, love it. It’s very well loved in Hollywood as well, anytime I would go to a general meeting at a studio or a producer’s office they would say a common question you get asked, ‘So Gary if you could do anything what would you do?’ I would say ‘I would do Starfighter,’ and they would light up and say ‘Oh god yes we want to do that too.’”

Whitta went on to describe how these meetings where he’s lobbied for a new Last Starfighter movie have always been hit by a brick wall, as parties cited the “impossible” tangled web of the rights to the film. As Whitta revealed, screenwriter Jonathan Betuel still controlled a piece of the rights, and revealed that he found and spoke to Betuel about making the new movie and they’ve been putting it together themselves.

In theory the new film would be similar to Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Whitta said, keeping the original film canon and continuing that storyline but passing the torch on from the heroes of the original to a new set of heroes.

Take a peek at their ideas for the sequel in the player above and let us know what you think of the concept reel in the comments below!

(H/T io9-Gizmodo)