EXCLUSIVE: Space 11 Corp. and SK Films are behind Return to the Moon: The Story of Artemis II, a new space film with Duncan Copp and Christopher Riley directing.
The producers are targeting a PLF rollout for the film, which they say will combine NASA’s real Artemis II mission imagery with the voices of the four astronauts who lived it. Worldwide theatrical release is targeted for summer 2027.
The synopsis reads: “Between April 1 and 11, 2026, the crew of the spacecraft Integrity traveled 695,081 miles and reached 252,756 miles from Earth, setting a new record for human spaceflight. The film follows the mission from the launch pad to splashdown in the Pacific.”
Space 11 says it is collaborating with NASA under a Space Act Agreement to shoot giant-screen interviews with the Artemis II crew: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.
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The narrative will be interwoven by the four astronauts in their own words and NASA’s high-resolution photography and footage, reformatted for giant screens. A 45 minute version and a shorter format are being planned to go out via SK’s network of giant-screen and specialty theaters, including IMAX theaters, museums, science-centers, and other institutional venues. The film will also be offered to school groups.
Duncan Copp and Christopher Riley have both worked with NASA’s astronauts, engineers and scientists, past and present. Copp and Riley produced Ron Howard-presented In the Shadow of the Moon, winner of the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at Sundance. Riley, a two-time BAFTA nominee, has worked with the Artemis II crew before, on hit immersive experience The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks, which he co-wrote with Hanks.
The film is produced by Andrea Iervolino (Ferrari), founder of Space 11. Producer Nicola Allieta will also participate in this production.
SK, the natural history and science content specialist, most recently released Ocean Dreams, narrated by Shailene Woodley.
Andrea Iervolino, Founder of Space 11, stated: “Artemis II belongs to everyone who looked up at the Moon in April. We are honored to tell this story in collaboration with NASA and alongside the four astronauts who took us there. Our responsibility is to make a film that everyone behind this mission, from the teams at NASA and the Canadian Space Agency to the families who waited at home, will watch with pride. With Duncan Copp and Christopher Riley, who know this crew and this history as few filmmakers do, and with SK Films, we will share that journey with audiences around the world.”
Bert Ulrich, Executive Vice President of Production at Space 11 and former NASA Film and Television Liaison, added: “In more than two decades at NASA, I learned that nothing moves people like real imagery and the voices of those who were actually there. This film is built on both: NASA’s own photography and footage, and the Artemis II crew recounting the flight themselves. On a giant screen, it is as close as most of us will ever come to flying aboard Integrity. If it inspires young people to reach for a seat on a future mission, it will have done what the best space documentaries have always done.”
“NASA’s Artemis II Mission is the perfect subject for giant screen cinema: it invites audiences to experience a historic accomplishment, with the extraordinarily personal perspective of its astronauts, on a scale unparalleled by any other cinematic experience” said Wendy MacKeigan, CEO of SK Films. “We are excited to be working with Space 11 and the brilliant creative team to bring this film to audiences around the world.”
