Star Wars: KOTOR film rumors, Sonic film delayed to fix its VFX

[Karlston]

Slew of nerd-film Friday news also includes a date for the live-action Akira remake.

How many more Star Wars films and TV series do we need? Our answer to that question became "at least one more" when we learned on late Thursday that a pretty juicy Lucasfilm project is in the works: the first-ever Knights of the Old Republic film.

 

Buzzfeed News says the project is currently linked to only one person: screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, who has worked on scripts for Terminator Genisys, Netflix's Altered Carbon, and Alita: Battle Angel (meaning no actors, directors, or producers are currently attached, which should indicate how early-stages this project currently is). This script, according to Buzzfeed, is the first of a possible trilogy. If true, that would slam Kalogridis's project up against Star Wars film trilogies from Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff and from The Last Jedi director/screenwriter Rian Johnson.

 

There's always a chance that this KOTOR-linked screenplay is the first step in a protracted process that never leads to production (spec scripts tend to come before true film development) or that it turns into something tailored for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. Still, the KOTOR video game franchise, shepherded by the game makers at BioWare, has always been beloved for its characters and scripts. Even its MMO incarnation, which launched in 2011 to uneven reviews, has been consistently lauded for its engrossing universe and stories. Hence, we'll join our fellow Star Wars nerds and begin optimistically drooling already.

 

 

Speaking of optimism: our hopes that the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog film's visual design and digital effects will get a legitimate revision went up after its director confirmed a three-month production delay. Director Jeff Fowler took to Twitter on Friday to share the news—the film will now launch on February 14, 2020, bumped from its original November 8, 2019 release date.

 

Interestingly, Fowler's tweet used a very cartoony silhouette of Sonic's telltale head and an apparently hand-drawn model of Sonic's hand... wearing white gloves. The film's reveal trailer included a version of Sonic who, instead of wearing gloves, had white-coloured fur over his bare hands. These are the clearest signs yet of changes that Fowler alluded to in his previous mea culpa tweet about the launch trailer's Sonic treatment.

 

Rounding out the Friday nerd-film news is word that Taika Waititi's next live-action film project, a remake of the classic Japanese anime Akira, has a release date: May 21, 2021. This, coincidentally, places the Thor Ragnarok director's next film directly against the already announced sequel John Wick: Chapter 4, which for now will also launch the same day.

 

Listing image by Paramount / Sega

 

Source: Star Wars: KOTOR film rumors, Sonic film delayed to fix its VFX (Ars Technica)

 

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