The Starlight Movie: All We Know So Far
Here's everything we know about the Starlight movie so far.
This article is more than 2 years old
The recently announced 20th Century Studios film adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic Starlight has gotten the boost it needed as Joe Cornish has been hired by the studio to direct and write the upcoming Starlight movie.
WHAT IS A STARLIGHT?
For those unfamiliar with this brand of hero, think of an aging Flash Gordon. The Starlight movie will follow the comic, which stars Duke McQueen, a widower (his wife died of breast cancer), a father of two older sons, and the intergalactic hero of the planet Tantalus.
McQueen used to live a wormhole existence, which is how he found himself saving Tantalus some 40-odd years ago. Since that time, another wormhole has brought him back to Earth, where no one believes his story of saving planets. Not to worry. McQueen has lived a happy life, until the passing of his wife.
In the Starlight movie, we’ll likely be meeting McQueen at a point where he finds himself living in limbo, missing his wife terribly while long for the days of saving planets. Then, on one rainy night, the knock of destiny came to his front door. Krish Moor is 12 years old in Earth time. He hails from Tantalus, where his age is much different, but he is looking for McQueen and his special abilities. There is a new threat to Tantalus and it goes by the name of Kingfisher. The planets inhabitant’s freedom is at stake and Krish is looking to McQueen to be their once again savior.
McQueen would love to help and while he longs for adventure, he is much older now and doesn’t think he could be of service. It takes some convincing, but Krish finally convinces McQueen to don the old iconic spacesuit and jet away with him to the planet he hasn’t seen in 40 years.
His battle with Kingfisher may be more than he bargained for. Lord Kingfisher is telekinetic and uses this ability to take over Tantalus. Leading the Tantalus Resistance is Tilda Starr. She is at once smart, driven, strong and experienced, she is a match to go up against Kingfisher, even though the call goes out to McQueen.
THE MARK MILLAR COMIC SERIES
When it comes to graphic novels, Mark Millar is a popular commodity. The Starlight movie won’t be his first adaptation. His imprint is on so many comics, there are simply too many to list. His more popular comics include Kick-Ass, The Secret Service (aka The Kingsman), Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Marvel Knights Spider-Man as well as many other Marvel titles and a list of DC comics to include The Flash, X-Men, Superman, and Swamp Thing. Millar’s name is synonymous with graphic novels.
With the comics that the Starlight movie are based on, Millar introduced Duke McQueen in a six-issue limited series. He fully captured McQueen’s plight as an aging man who has fallen into a rut following the death of his wife. His writing for this limited series has been considered by many to be some of the finest he’s done, so Cornish may have his work cut out for him.
WHY CORNISH FOR THE STARLIGHT MOVIE?
Joe Cornish is an accomplished writer and director and an exciting voice for the Starlight movie. He started off writing for the British series The Adam and Joe Show, which he also starred in. He also wrote for Adam & Joe’s American Animation Adventure, Adam and Joe’s Wonky World of Animation, and Adam and Joe Go Tokyo. Cornish’s claim to fame though came with the 2011 science fiction comedy Attack the Block, which he also directed. This story told of a South London teen gang who attempts to defend their block from an alien invasion. He is also putting together a sequel to Attack the Block.
Joe Cornish also has his pen in a few other big movies which you may have heard of. He wrote The Adventure of Tintin for director Steven Spielberg, Marvel’s Ant-Man for Peyton Reed, and then The Kid Who Could Be King, a film in which he also directed.
SUPERHERO TIES
Bringing the Starlight movie to the screen is producer Simon Kinberg who, along with Audrey Chon, will be producing through Kinberg’s Genre Films banner. Kinberg is no stranger to the superhero genre as he has been involved by producing, writing, and directing various projects. Kinberg has written three of the X-Men movies as well as the 2015 Fantastic Four. As a producer, Kinberg has not only held that role in the previously mentioned films he wrote, but he also has credits in movies such as Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Murder on the Orient Express. Mark Millar should be relieved to know his creation is in good hands.
RELEASE DATE FOR THE STARLIGHT MOVIE
With the project barely getting off the ground, there is no set release date for Starlight. With pre-production just beginning, Cornish and Kinberg are out looking to see who they can find to be the perfect Duke McQueen. As more information becomes available, GFR will be here to pass it along. Check back on this page for future updates on the Starlight movie.
