Disney To Reboot The Rocketeer Reboot With Black Female Lead Posted by Wilson Morales
July 28, 2016
Source: THR
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Walt Disney Studios is looking to do a reboot of The Rocketeer, but with an African American female lead.
The original film was directed by Joe Johnson and starred Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin and Timothy Dalton. With a domestic gross of $46M at the box office, it was considered a failure before DVD sales and TV viewings made it a cult classic.
Created by Dave Stevens in 1982, Rocketeer was first published by Pacific Comics. Set in 1938, the story follows stunt pilot Cliff Secord who comes into possession of an experimental jetpack that allows him to take his fight for justice to the skies.
Max Winkler and Matt Spicer have been hired to write the reboot/sequel for the new film, which is being titled The Rocketeers. THR describes the new film as follows:
“The new take keeps the story in a period setting and offers a fresh view on the characters. Set six years after the original Rocketeer and after 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 jetpack technology in what could prove to be a turning point in the Cold War.”
Producing the reboot are The Jungle Book producer Brigham Taylor along with L.A. Clippers Power forward Blake Griffin and Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil.
Kalil owns a production company called Strange Turn Entertainment, which Griffin will start his venture in the film world with this project.
