Originally published July 29, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Walt Disney Studios has hired screenwriters Max Winkler and Matt Spicer to pen a script for a “sequel-reboot” to Joe Johnston’s cult 1991 action-adventure The Rocketeer.
The site reports that the new film – titled The Rocketeers – is currently in the early stages of development, but will be headlined by a black female character. It will keep the period setting as is “set six years after the original Rocketeer and after Cliff Secord has vanished while fighting the Nazis, an unlikely new hero emerges: a young African-American female pilot, who takes up the mantle of Rocketeer in an attempt to stop an ambitious and corrupt rocket scientist from stealing jet-pack technology in what could prove to be a turning point in the Cold War.”
The Rocketeer was based upon Dave Stevens’ indie comic and starred Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a rocket-powered jet pack, with his heroic deeds as the Rocketeer bringing him to the attention of Howard Hughes and the FBI, as well as Nazi operatives.
Originally envisioned as a trilogy, The Rocketeer failed to take off at the box office, earning just $46.7 million from a $40 million budget, although it has went on to earn a strong cult following over the last 25 years.
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