Long before Joaquin Phoenix was the "Joker" he went to "SpaceCamp."
Now, according to Hollywood Reporter writer Borys Kit, Disney+ is rebooting the latter 1986 family adventure flick that featured Phoenix in one of his earliest film roles.
The original, Space Shuttle-themed “SpaceCamp” was partially shot at Huntsville’s U.S. Space & Rocket Center and terrestrially set in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Phoenix recently won a Golden Globe Award for his work in the 2019 supervillain movie "Joker."
When he made "SpaceCamp" he was just 10-years-old and still known as Leaf Phoenix, and his castmates included then-newcomers Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston and Tate Donovan.
No word yet on premiere date or casting for Disney+'s reboot. But according to Hollywood Reporter, “Saturday Night Live” writers Mikey Day and Street Seidwell will write the script and “Hall Pass,” “Horrible Bosses” and “Rampage” producer John Rickard is producing. Day and Seidwell previously penned Disney+'s “Home Alone” reboot. Launched in 2019, Disney+ is known for its buzzed-about “Star Wars” TV series “The Mandolorian" and meme-inspiring “Baby Yoda” character.
The 1986 “SpaceCamp” was a box office flop, grossing just $9,697,739, even though the budget was reportedly around $18 million, according to imbd.com. The Space Shuttle Challenger explosion that killed all seven astronauts aboard, just months ahead of the film’s release, no doubt had a crippling commercial effect.
Still, “Space Camp” became a VHS cult fave and helped spark interest in aerospace among thousands of youths, many of which went on to attend Huntsville’s real Space Camp.
And helped launch the careers of then unknown like Phoenix, who’s now received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for “Joker.”
For detailed background on the original “SpaceCamp," read AL.com’s in-depth feature “Secrets of the ’80s ‘SpaceCamp’ movie, revealed” here.
