Disney+’s The Rocketeer Reboot Lands a Writer

The Rocketeer might be taking flight again very soon, with a new movie being developed to be exclusively released on Disney+. Despite The Rocketeer being announced to be in the works in 2021, updates on the film reboot have been few and far between — but now, we know a major detail about it. According to a new report from The Wrap, Eugene Ashe, who has previously worked on Sylvie’s Love and Homecoming, has been tapped to write The Rocketeer reboot. The new version of the film, which is based on Dave Stevens’ comic character of the same name, will be produced by and star David Oyelowo, as part of his and his wife’s first-look deal with Disney. Blake Griffin and Ryan Kalil’s Mortal Media are the film’s executive producers.

This will be the second The Rocketeer movie, following a 1991 venture helmed by Joe Johnston and starring Billy Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. The film arguably helped cement the character, who is a sendup of the pulp characters of the Golden Age, as a cult classic. 

What Is The Rocketeer About?

The Rocketeer comics follow the story of Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who gets the ability to fly from a mysterious jetpack. Stevens’ The Rocketeer stories were originally published by Pacific Comics, before the rights went over to IDW following his death in 2008. This new version of The Rocketeer will reportedly focus on a retired Tuskegee airman who takes up the Rocketeer mantle.

“I was a big fan of the first one. Actually had the poster up in my bedroom as a teenager. It’s a beloved property over [at Disney], so to be trusted with it is a real privilege. We’re going to take care of the fans of the original and hopefully bring in a whole new fanbase. In our film, he’s going to be an ex-Tuskegee airman, so it’s still in that 1940s milieu,” Oyelowo told The Wrap last year. “We know we have to adhere to the things that people loved about the first one. But that was 30 years ago, so we want to make a film that’s going to resonate for the next 30 years and especially for the now. That’s the needle we have to thread and we’re working hard to do so.”

Why Has a The Rocketeer Reboot Taken So Long?

Efforts have previously been made to adapt The Rocketeer into a new film, with a version following a black female pilot, titled The Rocketeers, initially greenlit back in 2016 before spending years in development hell. The franchise did get an extension in the form of a The Rocketeer Disney Junior television series, which followed a seven-year-old girl named Katherine “Kit” Secord as she takes on the superhero mantle.

“As of yet, nothing’s happened. To be honest, I don’t know if anything will happen,” Campbell said of a possible revival in 2021. “What I do know is that the film endures, and the reason it has such a long-lasting appeal, I think, is its spirit. It has a really sweet spirit. That more than anything is the reason for its longevity. I hope they do another something but I also hope they respect the spirit of the original. I can only imagine that unless you get the right people involved to do it properly, that it’s almost bound to be a disappointment.”

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