The Rocketeer Gets a Reboot

Disney is gearing up to reboot The Rocketeer, their 1991 comic-book adaptation about a man, a jetpack and… Jennifer Connelly.

Vulture reports that the studio will be meeting with writers soon to hear pitches on the property, which interestingly would be a Disney superhero movie that doesn't take place within the Marvel universe, even though Marvel is owned by Disney. (Or would it?)

The original film was based on the Dave Stevens character and starred Billy Campbell as a 1930s stunt pilot who acquires a Howard Hughes-designed (!) rocket pack and soon finds himself mixing it up with gangsters and Nazis. The film didn't fare very well at the box office, alas, but it is a favorite for many of us comics fans.

While we wait for more news on the reboot, why not check out the great animated homage below to the character and his late creator?

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

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There's Still Hope for The Dark Tower

The future is not bright for the highly ambitious movie and TV adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower as Warner Bros. is now the second studio to pass on the epic.

Variety reports that Warners has opted not to move forward with The Dark Tower, making it the second studio after Universal to pass on the film/TV saga. Oscar winner Ron Howard was set to direct and produce via his Imagine Entertainment banner with Akiva Goldsman scripting. Russell Crowe had been circling the role of gunslinger Roland Deschain after Javier Bardem bowed out.

As the trade points out, "Imagine is still able to take the project back out to other studios, but this latest news is a blow to the film’s future — when Universal first let go of the film, most insiders around town believed WB was its best chance of getting made."

UPDATE: Good news! Deadline reports that Media Rights Capital, the company behind Seth MacFarlane's Ted and Neill Blomkamp's Elysium, is now in serious talks with Imagine Entertainment to finance The Dark Tower. "MRC has a distribution arrangement with Universal, but it’s unclear whether that studio would release the film," the site points out.

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Warner Bros. Passes on The Dark Tower

The future is not bright for the highly ambitious movie and TV adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower as Warner Bros. is now the second studio to pass on the epic.

Variety reports that Warners has opted not to move forward with The Dark Tower, making it the second studio after Universal to pass on the film/TV saga. Oscar winner Ron Howard was set to direct and produce via his Imagine Entertainment banner with Akiva Goldsman scripting. Russell Crowe had been circling the role of gunslinger Roland Deschain after Javier Bardem bowed out.

As the trade points out, "Imagine is still able to take the project back out to other studios, but this latest news is a blow to the film’s future — when Universal first let go of the film, most insiders around town believed WB was its best chance of getting made."

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Paramount Saves Adam McKay's The Boys

Director Adam McKay's feature adaptation of The Boys may have been dropped by Columbia, but the Anchorman filmmaker confirms that the project has found a new home at Paramount.

When a fan of the Garth Ennis comic book expressed his dismay via Twitter that the film wasn't getting made, McKay responded with, "Actually Paramount picked it up and we're still developing."

The Boys centers on a group of CIA agents who are tasked with keeping any reckless superheroes in line.

Via Latino Review

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