WIRE Buzz: Colin Farrell joins Voyagers; Audible sets Stan Lee audiobook series; Sinemia closes

Today’s WIRE Buzz covers deep space, movie passses, and shadow superheroes — as well as Stan Lee himself — as new information about Voyagers, Sinemia, and Alliances: A Trick of Light has come about.

First up, the new sci-fi film from the director of Divergent has fleshed out its cast.

According to Deadline, Neil Burger (who also wrote the film) is stocking his ship with plenty of familiar faces to undertake a long space trip in Voyagers. Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, and Fionn Whitehead have been confirmed as stars of the thrillery film about 30 kids sent to populate a new planet — and the flight to get there will take multiple generations. Think something like Passengers, Lord Of The Flies, and The 100.

All hell breaks loose when the captain dies due to “mysterious circumstances." That captain is presumably to be played by Farrell, which means his star power is only there to kick things off and get fans ready for the space-gang warfare aboard the ship. Game of Thrones' Bran Stark AKA Isaac Hempstead Wright leads a group of actors that are still in negotiations to join up in this faction-driven drama. Those other potential space pioneers include Kelvin Harrison, Chanté Adams, and Madison Hu.

Production of Voyagers (which has sold some international distribution to Universal) is planned to start in Romania in early June.

Next, Stan Lee may have passed, but his creations live on. And not just his classic Marvel superheroes, but new and exciting projects he created in recent years, like the new audiobook Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light.

According to a release, Audible will host this multi-installment “audio storytelling event” (the differences between that and an audiobook is unclear) that’s written by Stan Lee and Kat Rosenfield, and created by Stan Lee, Luke Lieberman, and Ryan Silbert. The story has similar themes of humanity and technology to another of Lee’s late-in-life endeavors: his WEBTOON Backchannel.

Alliances: A Trick of Light, which will feature Lee’s voice in the introduction, is about mysterious youth Nia who’s mixed up with Midwestern teen Cameron Ackerson. Ackerson is trying to be a YouTube celebrity, but inadvertently attains “the power to see and hear a new reality” — which the nefarious organization OPTIC isn’t thrilled about. The story basically sees the duo becoming online superheroes, endeavoring to bring justice to technological spaces. That is, until a mysterious galactic threat puts humanity on the line. It’s a story from Stan Lee, after all.

Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light is available for preorder, and launches on June 27.

Finally, MoviePass's less messy competitor Sinemia has closed its U.S. business. According to the company's website, the film subscription service has found success in Europe, but factors like theater-owned subscription plans have roadblocked it finding a foothold stateside.

“Today, with a heavy heart, we’re announcing that Sinemia is closing its doors and ending operations in the U.S., effective immediately,” a statement reads. The company acknowledges that it "didn't see a path to sustainability as an independent movie ticket subscription service in the face of competition from movie theaters as they build their own subscriptions."

Without that kind of corporate power or name recognition, Sinemia's annual subscription plan just lacked teeth. It didn't crash and burn like MoviePass, but its ultimate failure in the U.S. marks a win for theater chains in the battle for the future of moviegoing.