Disney Rebooting Inspector Gadget Live-Action Film

Everything old is new again, and that means it is time to revisit another childhood favorite on a new set of screens. Inspector Gadget is the latest cartoon hit of yesteryear to be making a return according to The Hollywood Reporter. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, fresh off a dominant Summer with Aladdin, are on board to produce the latest version of the 1980s series.

Disney is following their blueprint from some of their high-profile hits this year in The Lion King and the aforementioned Aladdin by turning Gadget into a live-action feature. Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell, writers from Saturday Night Live, will script the bumbling inspector’s newest adventure. One would imagine that the reboot will still retain the light-hearted tone of the past series entries. Gadget will be produced via Lin and Eirich’s Rideback banner.

For those who might not know, Inspector Gadget was something of a staple in programming blocks aimed at children back in the 1980s and 1990s. The American-Canadian collaboration centered around a police inspector that resembled an extremely lighthearted Robocop. The gruff but determined Chief Quimby sent the hero out to thwart all manner of evil schemes. He had all sorts of gizmos hardwired into his body and solved cases with his niece Penny and her dog Brain. Gadget’s nemesis was the evil Dr. Claw who led an organization called M.A.D. (Fun fact: that acronym has multiple meanings that were never really clarified.)

There have been a bunch of spin-offs, reboots, and video games in the series’ past. Disney produced two live-action movies, with the first premiering in 1999, that starred Matthew Broderick as the inspector. Rupert Everett played opposite Broderick as the mysterious Dr. Claw. D.L. Hughley actually voiced the main character’s car with some very period representative CGI on display. The first movie was such a success that a sequel quickly followed with Broderick returning as the titular Gadget. Don Adams actually voice the character in a bit of inspired typecasting during the show’s original run.

Day and Seidell are going to be busy going forward with this on their plate in addition to a Home Alone reboot that is being developed for Disney+. One has to wonder if this new Gadget project will find a home there as well. Those late 90s films felt like extensions of Disney Channel Original movies. Maybe those will find homes on the upcoming streaming service as well. But for now, it Go-Go-Gadget full steam ahead with the brand new live-action effort.