Another good year for comics adaptations as Tatsuki Fujimoto manga Look Back and 2000 AD character Rogue Trooper make a cellular appearance at the BFI London Film Festival, taking place October 7 to 18. Also at the festival will be an advanced screening of the first two episodes of Marvel Studios TV series VisionQuest, and an adaptation of French bande dessinée mystery The Case of David Zimmerman, entitled The Unknown. Tickets go on sale September 17.
Rogue Trooper (Oct 9, 12, 16) might be the biggest one for the Brits. The Duncan Jones-directed movie based on Gerry Finley-Day & Dave Gibbons‘ fan favourite 2000 AD character had yet to be made available to any UK audiences outside of test screenings. After it completed its final cut, the movie has been touring the international festival circuit. The three screenings at the BFI London Film Festival will mark its “home”-debut. Still no word on a distributor or timeline for general release. The explosively odd, future war CGI extravaganza stars Aneurin Barnard alongside Matt Berry and Hayley Atwell.
Look Back (Oct 14, 16) is the second adaptation of Tatsuki ‘Chainsaw Man’ Fujimoto’s acclaimed one-shot manga about two friends who aspire to become professional manga artists, after the Kiyotaka Oshiyama written-and-directed anime movie in 2024. The 2026 edition brings the story to live action, is written-and-directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) and features Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita in the lead roles.
The Unknown (Oct 14, 15) – French title: L’Inconnue – adapts the acclaimed 2024 French graphic novel Le cas David Zimmerman [The Case of David Zimmerman] by brothers Arthur Harari and Lucas Harari. The body swap drama is directed by co-creator Arthur Harari, and stars Léa Seydoux and Niels Schneider. The English language edition of the original comic will release from Arsenal Pulp Press on October 13.
Beyond adaptations there are many other interesting draws at the film festival including a conversation with anime/manga scholar, Manga Bible author Helen McCarthy (Oct 10), much anticipated kaiju prequel-sequel Godzilla Minus Zero, and Mahershala Ali’s newest movie, the Bassam Tariq-directed Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Oct 17, 18) – plus Ali will get a chance to talk about his career (Oct 17). Marvel Television’s anticipated VisionQuest (Oct 12) will appear at the film festival, giving audiences a chance to enjoy the opening two episodes in a cinema setting a few days before it premieres on Disney+.
