Later this year, a long-forgotten film featuring Mark Hamill will be released to the public after being stored away for decades. Action comedy Virtually Heroes, which was an official selection at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival but had trouble finding a distributor, has been picked up by Screen Media, according to Variety. The iconic Hollywood bB-movie producer/director Roger Corman served as the project’s executive producer. Corman is no stranger to unreleased films; Marvel fans may recall his infamously unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four picture.
According to a statement released by Screen Media, the film is “a wonderful combination of action and campy, tongue-in-cheek humour” that “will be guaranteed to excite fans,” regardless of whether or not they have seen other Roger Corman films in the past. The film’s premise, which is similar to that of last year’s Ryan Reynolds blockbuster Free Guy, follows two characters in a military computer game (like Call of Duty) who realise they are virtual and want to escape the virtual world by achieving the impossible: winning love and the game.
Hamill, portraying a wise monk before his role as an elderly Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, assists them in this endeavour. Cult films like “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Death Race 2000” both had Corman as an executive producer. Corman was known for his ability to produce films on schedule and under budget, but he was also known for his keen ability to recognise and employ emerging directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and James Cameron.
At the ripe old age of 96, Corman is only “semi-retired,” and he keeps busy with new projects. Written and directed by GJ Echternkamp (who previously helmed Corman’s Death Race 2050), Virtually Heroes stars Mark Hamill, Robert Baker (Supergirl’s Otis Graves), and Brent Chase (Animal Kingdom), and Katie Savoy (Sequestered). Sundance premiere reviews from 2013 point out that the film recycles clips from several different Roger Corman-produced war flicks. Legendary penny-pincher Roger Corman isn’t afraid to use clips from his many previous films.
Targets, Peter Bogdanovich’s critically praised first movie, was constructed using recycled footage from the 1960s horror film The Terror, starring Jack Nicholson and Boris Karloff.
After its theatrical and digital debut in December, Virtually Heroes will debut on the Crackle Plus streaming platform Popcornflix in February 2023.