20 years before he directed Captain America: The First Avenger, Joe Johnston helmed another superhero movie. The Rocketeer was a throwback to adventure serials of the 1930s/40s starring Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot with a jetpack who battled Nazis in old-time Hollywood. Though it was a financial disappointment for Disney in 1991, it’s developed a cult following over the years.
Given that and the widespread popularity of superhero cinema nowadays, it’s no surprise that the studio is apparently working on remaking it. We Got This Covered has been informed by our source – the same one who revealed that an Aladdin sequel was in the works last month, before it got confirmed this week – that Disney is looking to reboot the property. It seems the project is in its earliest stages though, as we’ve heard that it could either develop into a movie or a TV show set for Disney Plus.
That’s all the info we have at the moment, so it’s unclear whether this latest stab at the franchise is related to the last attempt to remake The Rocketeer. If you’ll recall, back in 2016, it was announced that Disney was developing The Rocketeers, a Jurassic World-like reboot/sequel which would pick up six years after the events of the original film and feature a black female pilot inheriting Secord’s jetpack.
Things have gone quiet on that front ever since, though. Still, it’s possible that Disney have dusted the idea off now, or else they’ve decided to go in a completely different direction with it. Perhaps they’ve come to the conclusion that the original’s not well known enough to deserve a nostalgic sequel and they’re going to simply reboot it instead. That could be one option, but that’s just speculation on our part.
In any case, when news of the reboot emerged in 2016, numerous filmmakers reacted to it on social media, putting their names forward to possibly helm the pic. These included future Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse director Peter Ramsey and Aquaman‘s James Wan. So, clearly the project could attract some real talent if it gets off the ground and we’re hopeful that we’ll learn more about this new Rocketeer sooner rather than later.
