The Pitch: The Last Starfighter – Syfy TV, Direct Sequel or Abrams Style Remake?
Welcome back to The Pitch where I give Hollywood some of my ideas on old projects, franchises, reboots, remakes and everything else except my own personal concepts – because that is just stupid. I was watching one of my favorite films as child the other day, The Last Starfighter and not only was I amazed at how awesome that movie still is but the concept is just one that I love. I have been a fan of your “fish out of water sci-fi stories” for years and thats exactly what this movie is about.
A young teen going nowhere with his life finding something he never dreamed in a simple arcade game its just a nice concept. In today’s Hollywood remakes are the status quo and sci-fi 80s classics like Flight of the Navigator and Black Hole are getting modern updates why not this movie? To be clear, I am not suggesting that a remake should be the first thing on the list for The Last Starfighter brand but wouldn’t put it past a studio to do that and go that direction.
So if I am a studio executive and I am sitting around going what can we do with this story idea what would my options be?
Starfighter (TV Series) - Well how about a Syfy TV series to start? There is no better way to bring back an 80s brand into a modern setting by telling the story through a TV universe. Look at how successful the Battlestar Galactica brand was getting a reboot. I’d like to see this Last Starfighter concept spread over a season of television in the vein of Buck Rogers into the 25th Century but with all the basic elements of Starfighter. The pilot episode should be a condensed version of the movie and then you expand the universe the original film created throughout entire series run. You make action-adventure. Hell you could even make a TV show a sequel to the original film with it revolving around Alex’s son or maybe even a daughter.
The Son of The Last Starfighter - The other way you could obviously go is using the aforementioned sequel idea and make a feature film of it. Anyone can do that but its how you choose to present it and thats where my idea I think will hit home. You must handle it very much like Tron Legacy has done with itself as a sequel to the original 1982 film Tron. You revolve it around the son of Alex who has never known his father (possibly mother), after beating a complex new game created by his dad Alex Rogen and other members of the Star League as well as finding out his real parents are BETA units – a cool adventure can begin. He gets thrust into a life where he is not only trying to find his dad but a life he always knew he wanted and was destined for. You have a new war brewing in the midst with the Star League and other alien threats, etc. The key is to package the sequel with the same type of cgi and visual effects upgrades as Legacy but not differ from the original designs of the ships and the original universe. Obviously feature upgraded tech and various things that will look better in an HD/Digital format. This is a lot easier to do in Tron because its a game world and just features evolution in gaming tech whereas Starfighter you would just need to have some backstory built into some of those explanations but not hard though. Also you make the movie 3D and IMAX and bam! this movie is in no way not a success.
The Last Starfighter Remake - Remember when fans of Star Trek just freaked when JJ and crew said they were bringing back Kirk and Spock in a universe altering remake of one the most dedicated, critically passionate fanbase oriented properties in the Motion Picture Industry? I do and like many was very cautiously optimistic until I saw the film. Turns out I loved the reboot and what it offered that you can’t deny how Abrams honored Trek for what it was while putting some modern touches and things into the film and characters making it identifiable for younger audiences but pleasing to older ones and fans alike. I believe a Last Starfighter remake could accomplish the exact same thing and just blow the minds of many people.
To conclude, the point being is that this property is sitting there waiting to be explored and there is enough talent in Hollywood willing to touch and bring it back to a generation who loved it as well as a generation who will love it. If I was Universal Pictures I’d be watching Tron Legacy’s box office very closely as that is a great measuring stick to how well this project could do. They are very similar in concept but also the most interesting connection between the two properties is both original films have the distinction of being one of cinema’s earliest films to use very extensive CGI. Starfighter used CGI to depict its many starships, environments and battle scenes. Also its important to know I did do some research and there is supposedly a sequel in the works but I am not counting on it. In 2008, it was confirmed that a sequel is in the works tentatively titled Starfighter, the film was going to reunite director Nick Castle with writer Jonathan Betuel and actor Lance Guest. George Paige is the film’s executive producer, with co-production by Universal Pictures and Relativity Media. The film is currently listed on the IMDB to be released in 2010 but we are not sure if this movie is sitting in a hole someplace as Universal hasn’t had the best movie project and development track record as of late.
The Pitch is a weekly column from Kevin Coll, Executive Editor of FusedFilm.com, where he writes basic ideas on existing projects or ones in development hell in Hollywood. He never writes original material here, because that’s just stupid, so commenting on stuff he doesn’t have the rights for is much more fun. Email him at kcoll@fusedfilm.com
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