By Well this puts a little jump in my step. Disney is developing a remake of The Rocketeer, Joe Johnston’s 1991 adventure film based on the comic books by the late Dave Stevens. The studio is planning to meet with writers in the near future to hear their pitches. I really hope they keep the story in the 1930s since the period is so essential the character’s appeal.
I mean, there’s just something great about the whole look and feel of The Rocketeer. There’s that inspired art deco aesthetic, that classic Bettie Page cheesecake, the callbacks to serials and pulps, that helmet, that jet pack, and that badass leather jacket, made all-the-cooler by the trapezoid plastron fixed with brass buttons that resemble the rivets on a howling stream train.
We’ll keep you posted as we hear more. In the meantime, I’m going give that Johnston movie a rewatch so I can fall in love with Jennifer Connolly again, and maybe check out the new IDW Rocketeer stuff (or at least re-read the Stevens work). I’ll also pour out a little bathtub gin for Rondo Hatton.
[Vulture via Twitch]