Not to leave an ’80s stone (pet rock?) unturned, Lionsgate is seeking to remake the 1986 sci-fi film ‘Flight of the Navigator’ with a script by Joe Henderson, the showrunner of the series ‘Lucifer’. The Jim Henson Company is set to produce. The film is still in the earliest stages of development, so no other names are attached at this point.
The original movie was made by the Producers Sales Organization (‘The Outsiders’, ‘The NeverEnding Story’) but later released by Disney. Randal Kleiser (‘Grease’, ‘The Blue Lagoon’) directed the original starring Joey Kramer as David Freeman, a 12 year-old boy who falls into a ravine in 1978 and wakes up in 1986, having not aged a day and with no memories of what happened. He later discovers that he was abducted by aliens and that his brain is imprinted with other worldly technical information. NASA discovers this and attempts to use David for their own benefit. The film also featured Sarah Jessica Parker and the voice of Paul Reubens as the AI Max.
In 2012, Disney planned a remake, with a script by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, with Trevorrow eyed to direct, but the project never materialized.
Lionsgate is likely eyeing this film as a potential franchise starter, as its ‘Hunger Games’ series wrapped up years ago and ‘Divergent’ was truncated, with the final installment in the story never produced. The studio had hoped to kick off a huge new brand with at least five movies with this year’s ‘Power Rangers’ but the lukewarm reception may have squashed plans for future installments.
As for Henderson, ‘Lucifer’ based on the Vertigo comic book returns for its third season on October 2nd. Henderson previously produced such shows as ‘White Collar’, ‘Almost Human’ and ‘Graceland’.
Are you a fan of the original ’80s movie? Are you excited that a remake is in the works? Or do you think Hollywood should find something original?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
