8 REAL Failed Movie Pitches Just Revealed

8. A Rocketeer Sequel Starring Alison Brie

The Rocketeer
Buena Vista Pictures

Joe Johnston's The Rocketeer is an absolute gem of a film that way too many people have slept on. The film drew praise from critics upon its release but sadly didn't manage to pull in a big enough haul at the box office to justify any sequels. Even so, The Rocketeer has amassed a cult following in the years since its release, with a TV spin-off even releasing on Disney Junior in 2019, while a reboot/sequel is set to debut on Disney+ at some point in the next few years.

All fine and dandy, yes, but what about the other sequels that have been pitched over the last couple of decades? Not too much is really known about them, but thankfully screenwriter Kevin Biegel decided to do us all a solid and answer Shannon & Swift's Tweet detailing his failed Rocketeer pitch. Tragically, it sounds kind of incredible.

Biegel's idea to take the Rocketeer's pulpy sensibilities and apply them to the sixties is a genius idea, effectively enabling the film to mirror the actual evolution of superheroes from the Golden Age of Comics to the Silver Age that emerged after the Second World War. As he elaborates in the thread, this Rocketeer sequel would've also poked fun at sixties spy capers, with multiple elite agents turning up to lecture the new lead before dying all sorts of horrible deaths.

Also, if everything had gone according to plan, it would've had Community's Alison Brie as the granddaughter of Cliff Seccord! Why didn't this get made again?

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.