Movies

Steven Spielberg Couldn't Even Get The Rights To Remake 'The Last Starfighter'

last starfighter remake
By Germain Lussier/

The Last Starfighter has seen a nice little bump in nostalgic recognition over the past few days. The reason? This awesome "Modern Trailer," which /Film was among the first to post. Many fans have been watch the trailer and wondering the same thing I wondered in the text of the piece. Why hasn't this fantastic, yet underrated movie, with a premise so perfectly engrained in modern pop culture, been remade yet?

Several filmmakers and writers, among them Star Wars stand alone writer Gary Whitta and actor/writer/director Seth Rogen, have been discussing this topic on Twitter. Each has looked into getting the rights. As it turns out, they are near impossible to acquire. How impossible? Steven Spielberg himself couldn't get the Last Starfighter remake rights.

This revelation was made by Seth Rogen on Twitter. He was discussing his desire to remake the film and mentioned, in his search, he talked to Steven Spielberg about it:

If you look at the rest of the tweets from before and after that one, there are some other interesting revelations. It seems the film's writer, Jonathan R. Betuel, retains the rights to all remakes and sequels. According to Rogen, he has absolutely no interest in anything happening with the film. That's unconfirmed, but you have to imagine pretty accurate. Especially if arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood couldn't get the rights.

I look at this as a double edged sword. On the one hand, it's admirable Betuel – or whomever is in charge of the rights – wants to keep the original so pure. The Last Starfighter is a movie I hold close to my heart, as do many others. However, it's a movie that was well ahead of its time and could easily be turned into a really satisfying, different and awesome remake.

Here's the trailer that got this whole conversation rolling. Do you think we'll ever see a Last Starfighter remake?

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