1986 adventure movie Flight Of The Navigator is a bit of a relic, a charming 80s adventure that few seem to remember, always overshadowed by The Goonies and Stand By Me. “Perhaps it’s a prime contender for a remake”, one might say. “You should work in Hollywood”, someone chimes in, as that’s exactly what’s happening.
Lionsgate have tapped Lucifer showrunner Joe Henderson to write the screenplay for a new version of the film. The original follows a 12 year old boy who gets knocked unconscious while walking through the woods in 1978. He awakens in 1986, still the same age and discovering he was abducted by an alien spaceship.
For a film that clearly influenced the hit Stranger Things, the success of Netflix’s show has likely helped spur interest in a new version of Flight Of The Navigator with its somewhat similar premise. Despite being a sci-fi family film, it has a strong emotional core centering on how a kid would react to returning home after years apart and releasing all his friends and family grew without him.
This isn’t the first time a remake for Flight Of The Navigator has been attempted, as in 2009 Brad Copeland (Arrested Development) was hired to write the script, with Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connelly brought in to write a new draft in 2012, but the project fell through.
This is one of the few remakes that makes complete sense and isn’t solely a huge money grab. A film with huge potential from the 80s, practically forgotten about, getting a chance to be reintroduced to a whole new generation. It’s still in the early days, but let’s hope Henderson can deliver a great script, get an enthusiastic director and cast on board, and glide Flight Of The Navigator into the 21st century.
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