One Of The Most Iconic '80s Adventure Movies Is Getting A Very Strange Disney+ Reboot
It appears that the 1985 cult classic "The Goonies" is officially getting the Disney+ treatment.
According to Variety, a new spinoff series based off the movie's cultural impact has been greenlit by the Mickey Mouse company following a number of failed attempts to bring it to Fox. Television writer Sarah Watson had penned a pilot for the cable network, but execs reportedly felt the subject matter was too young for its audiences. Keeping with the "Goonies" never say die attitude, Warner Bros. continued to shop Watson's script around and were eventually able to find its home at Disney+.
"Sarah worked nonstop to deliver this incredible script," explained Clancy Collins White, executive VP and head of development at Warner Bros. "We had our table read, and then the world shut down for COVID. So we came back many months later and finished the beautiful pilot, and it was an incredible cast, but unfortunately a little bit too young for Fox. And so we immediately swung into high gear and hit the town with it. We did not yet have anything in development at Disney Plus. It's been another example of being able to carve a pathway where there wasn't one by virtue of a great story, a great pilot, a great series. The deal has taken a while to make, but we're really excited to be moving forward."
So what will this new "Goonies"-inspired series be about? And what prompted Warner Bros. to continue fighting for it?
The upcoming Goonies series will serve as a tribute to the original film
Titled "Our Time," Disney+'s "Goonies" reboot will reportedly focus on a teacher and some of her students as they attempt to re-create, "shot-for-shot," the original film, as reported by Variety. The Donner Company and Amblin Entertainment, both of which were behind the release of "The Goonies" in the '80s, have returned to help helm the spin-off.
The Warner Bros. TV Group chairman Channing Dungey recently described how the studio had pushed in all of its production chips on "Our Time" (per Variety). "If something happens along the way, whether it's a regime change, or a loss of interest in a concept or a change in programming strategy, we're going to find a new place for a project to live and hopefully thrive," Dungey said. "Looking at the track record that Warner Bros. has had in this space made me really excited to come in and be a part of that. One of the hardest things for me when I was on the platform side was having to say 'no, this doesn't fit with our needs, we don't have room for this.' Whereas here, if we fall in love with an idea, and we want to pursue it, there's no limit to our passion."