Revamp Alert

Disney Is Rebooting The Rocketeer with a Black Female Lead

The beloved cult classic is getting a new reboot-sequel.

Disney is ready to revamp the 1991 cult classic The Rocketeer, The Hollywood Reporter has announced. The live-action movie, based on the popular comic-book character of the same name, will get a sequel-slash-reboot—and, in a new spin, the new film will star a black female lead.

The script will be written by Max Winkler and Matt Spicer. Brigham Taylor (The Jungle Book) will serve as a producer, alongside star athletes Blake Griffin and Ryan Kalil.

The original film, set in the 1930s, is about a stunt pilot named Cliff Secord who stumbles upon a powerful jet pack, and must protect it when villains try to steal it and use it for evil. Directed by Joe Johnston (Captain America, Jumanji), The Rocketeer starred Billy Campbell, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Connelly, and Timothy Dalton, and received average reviews at the time, but afterward became an underground favorite among movie and comic-book fans. Campbell always wanted the film to have a sequel, but said in an interview years ago that the movie didn’t make “as much money as Disney had hoped,” dashing any follow-up dreams.

The new film, which will be titled The Rocketeers, will pick up six years after the original. Secord has disappeared, paving the way for a young black pilot to become the new Rocketeer—protecting the jet-pack technology from villains who want to use it in the Cold War. The film does not yet have a release date.