Many years ago, it was revealed that Disney was developing a new movie for Disney+ based on the classic 1990s film, “The Rocketeer”, which tells the story of a stunt pilot who comes across a prototype jetpack that gives him the ability to fly. However, evil forces in the world also want this jetpack at any cost.

While the new film, which was going to be called “The Return Of The Rocketeer” was going to feature a new story focusing on a retired Tuskegee airman who takes up the Rocketeer mantle. The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African-American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II.

The new project was being put together by David Oyelowo and his production company, Yoruba Saxon, with Mortal Media’s Blake Griffin and Ryan Kalil executive producing it.

It’s been nearly 18 months since we got an update about the project, when David explained while promoting his new Paramount+ streaming series “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”, that the project is still in development:

“We have forward momentum. I know you guys hear this stuff all the time, but we in the script development stage and if you’re going to reinvigorate that beloved franchise, you better come with the goods.  And so Eugene Ashe is currently writing away and we were talking about it only this week. We’re all very committed to that. But it’s going to have to be great and we will not rest until it is.”

However, during a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, David Oyelowo revealed that the “Rocketeer” movie doesn’t look like it’s moving forward, along with another project for Netflix based on the novel, “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun”.   David has put the blame on the failure of both of these projects on the studios, citing a shift in the political climate.

“‘Onyeka’ is an absolute bull’s-eye for what we are looking to make, but it is also symptomatic of the challenge we have.  We gained traction with that project in the wake of the George Floyd murder and in a moment where there was a cultural correction and people seemed to want to do better. But now we’re in a moment where it’s evident that a lot of that was performative and not bone-deep. Projects like that suddenly become challenged. ‘Onyeka’ being one, ‘Return of the Rocketeer’ at Disney being another.”

With the political situation changing in the United States, Disney, along with many other studios, has been pulling back on its DEI projects as the government has launched an attack on these types of programs, especially as the administration has been probing into companies that aren’t complying with their requests.

Despite the new administration openly attacking the DEI, David Oyelowo and his wife/producing partner Jessica Oyelowo are intending to keep focusing on work that promotes those ideals.

“Attack on DEI or not, we’ve been doing it before there was all this energy around it and we will be doing it after.”

In the past few years, we’ve seen many projects for Disney+  put into development cancelled as the company shifted focus from obtaining subscribers to making profits.  Disney has also been trying to step back from controversial projects, and it looks like “The Rocketeer” sequel was just deemed too problematic by executives to continue for multiple reasons.     One of those could just be that the idea of bringing back “The Rocketeer”, when superhero movies and shows are on the decline, plus the feedback from the audience on this project wasn’t positive, or it could be as David explained, that support for the project was just performative and they had no desire to tell this story.

Would you have liked to have seen a new version of “The Rocketeer”?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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