Mark Millar Reveals What the Holdup Is With a Starlight Movie

When comic scribe Mark Millar's entire publishing line Millarworld was acquired by Netflix, it [...]

When comic scribe Mark Millar's entire publishing line Millarworld was acquired by Netflix, it seemed like a dream come true for fans of the writer. As quickly as the deal was finalized it was revealed a number of the titles were in the works as both movies and TV shows for the streaming service. There is one catch though, Millar had previously sold off the film rights to several of his published works before selling his company to Netflix, which means that they're still sitting at those companies in various stages of development.

One of those titles (among a few) is Starlight, Millar's subversive take on a "Flash Gordon" style heroes. When asked by a fan on the status of the Starlight movie, Millar revealed that the rights for the property remain tied up at 20th Century Fox, now a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

"Netflix own Starlight like all the other Millarworld properties bough in our company sale, but Fox holding the film rights for a few more years. It's such a shame those fine folk are part of Disney now as they have so many other things & this would have been awesome."

For those out of the loop, the official description for the 2014 series reads: "Forty years ago, Duke McQuxeen was the space hero who saved the universe. But then he came back home, got married, had kids, and grew old. Now his children have left and his wife has passed away, leaving him alone with nothing except his memories...until a call comes from a distant world asking him back for his final and greatest adventure."

20th Century Fox picked up the rights to the series in 2013 with Rogue One screenwriter Gary Whitta tapped to pen the screenplay. In that time few updates were revealed and after the merger of the studios, and Disney officially slashing many of Fox's in-development titles, it seems like this version of the project will never see the light of day. It's also unclear just how much longer they'll hold the film rights to Starlight and how long it will be before they return and Netflix can begin developing their own movie.

In the meantime there are plenty of other Millarworld titles in the works at Netflix. Titles like Empress, Huck, and Sharkey the Bounty Hunter are in the works as feature films with a Jupiter's Legacy TV series already filming. Millar's American Jesus is also in development as a live-action TV series along with Supercrooks in the works as an animated show. The first original title Millar debuted under his Netflix deal, The Magic Order, is also being produced as a series for the streaming with Aquaman director James Wan attached.

0comments