Zack Snyder has often said that if he was given the opportunity to helm a Star Wars movie, he'd pay homage to the great Akira Kurosawa with an epic space adventure inspired by Seven Samurai.
Though it might happen someday, the Justice League director still hasn't been enlisted by Disney/Lucasfilm - but he will get the chance to tell his story in a different Galaxy Far, Far Away with upcoming Netflix sci-fi adventure, Rebel Moon.
Snyder recently shared some new plot details during an appearance on The Preston and Steve Show, and it sounds like his movie will be more directly influenced by Kurosawa's classic than we realized.
"The movie’s about a planet not in our... it’s a space fantasy so there’s no Earth, necessarily. But there’s a community on a planet, a farming planet, and there’s a bunch of bad guys from other worlds [who] are in the area and they need to be fed, so they come to the village and ask for the village to feed them while they’re doing their war in that area of the galaxy. And, of course, they are not kind about asking and the result will probably be the obliteration of the village itself. The villagers decide to fight, and so they have to go out into the galaxy and collect warriors to help them."
The basic premise of Seven Samurai has been replicated countless times (we even had a sci-fi take on the story in the little-seen Roger Corman movie Battle Beyond the Stars), so let's hope Snyder is planning to inject a few new ideas here.
Rebel Moon stars Djimon Hounsou, Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll, Michiel Huisman, Alfonso Herrera, Charlie Hunnam, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Stuart Martin, Jena Malone, Staz Nair, E. Duffy, Charlotte Maggi, Sky Yang Sofia, and Anthony Hopkins. Boutella will play the lead: "A young woman with a mysterious past who seeks out warriors from neighbouring planets to help a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy take a stand against the tyrannical Regent Balisarius."
No premiere date has been announced, but we're hearing a teaser trailer might not be too far off, so keep an eye on SFFGazette.com for updates.