Disney’s new studio head Alan Horn is reportedly keen on giving cult classic The Rocketeer a second chance on the big screen, over 20 years after their first effort directed by Joe Johnston (Captain America) was publically declared a box office disappointment.

Created by Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer is a 1980’s comic book hero created, much like Indiana Jones,  as homage to the Saturday matinee heroes of the 30’s and 40’s. This retro hero is Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a secret prototype jetpack that allows him to rocket into the sky ready to do battle with evil Nazis and rescue darling dames in distress.

The 1991 film version starred Billy Campbell, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Connolly and then James Bond Timothy Dalton. It generally was well received by critics and existing fans of the comics, but failed to perform at the box office due to ineffective marketing campaigns and being unfairly labelled as a kid friendly Indiana Jones rip-off.

Disney is currently hearing pitches from several writers as they try to decide what direction to take the new project in. The studio will be hoping that if they get it right this time they can once again make ‘flying jetpack’   the present children are most likely to want, but least likely to actually get…