Disney has enlisted Sylvie’s Love screenwriter Eugene Ashe to pen the upcoming reboot of the 1991 adventure movie The Rocketeer.
As reported by TheWrap, Ashe is the latest screenwriter to tackle the golden age superhero reboot, with actor David Oyelowo attached to produce and star as a Tuskegee Airman taking on the Rocketeer mantle. Ashe takes over from Ed Ricourt, whose previous credits include Now You See Me and episodes of Marvel’s Jessica Jones. The reboot is planned as an exclusive release for Disney+.
The history of The Rocketeer
Created by comic book writer and artist Dave Stevens in 1982 for Pacific Comics, Disney acquired the movie rights to The Rocketeer in the late ’80s as a potential franchise starter akin to Batman and Indiana Jones. Released in 1991 and directed by Captain America: The First Avenger‘s Joe Johnston, The Rocketeer followed a ’30s stunt pilot named Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) who comes across a stolen prototype rocket pack created by Howard Hughes. Attracting the FBI and a group of Nazis led by movie star Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton), Cliff has to protect the rocket as well as save his aspiring actress girlfriend Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly). Released in the summer of 1991, The Rocketeer was a commercial failure despite positive reviews from critics.
Plans for a Rocketeer reboot featuring an African-American female lead were announced in 2016, with Max Winkler and Matt Spicer attached to pen the script under the working title The Rocketeers. While the project never got off the ground, Disney moved forward with a variation of the concept with The Rocketeer animated series for Disney Junior in 2019. Oyelowo’s reboot, under the working title The Return of the Rocketeer, was announced in 2020, with Devotion’s J.D. Dillard attached to direct. Dillard exited the project in 2022, leaving the director’s chair currently vacant.
“I am not on that movie,” Dillard said. “But, you know, it’s tricky. I love, love, love The Rocketeer. What I have a slightly hard time wrapping my head around now is going back to pre-1970 aviation. You know, I’m not saying never. But I think I need a breather from period aviation.”
The Return of the Rocketeer does not have a release date.
