The 20th anniversary of Disney’s serial-spirited adventure ”The Rocketeer” will be celebrated June 21 with a special screening and an exhibit of props and costumes, as well as a cast and creator reunion panel that will be moderated by filmmaker Kevin Smith. The entire program is being staged by D23, the paid-membership club that offers deeper, prestige access and archival-minded events to Disney fans.
There’s no word yet on the lineup of that panel, but it and the screening will take place at El Capitan Theatre – the same site where the underrated film premiered on June 21, 1991, and marked the movie palace’s grand reopening after a two-year remodeling and restoration that took it back to its gilded, Art Deco origins. “The Rocketeer,” a commercial disappointment at the time of original release, has a bit of extra resonance right now — Far East Movement has a big hit with a song that borrows the title and wild-blue-yonder imagery, and the film’s director, Joe Johnston, is back in retro adventure mode with “Captain America: The First Avenger,” opening in July as one of the big films of the summer. The anniversary event also will be tinged with sadness due to a key absence – Dave Stevens, the creator of “The Rocketeer,” died in 2008 at age 52.
After the screening, guests will be invited around the corner to the Hollywood Museum in the old Max Factor Building, where a special exhibit of “The Rocketeer” props and costumes from the Disney Archive will be on display and limited-edition collectibles will be available for purchase. The price for the panel, screening and exhibit is $50 per ticket. Fans with a D23 membership can purchase tickets beginning May 2, remaining tickets will be available to the general public beginning May 23.
For the record, 11:57 a.m. April 27: An earlier version of this post said you had to be a D23 member to buy tickets. Membership is required to take part in the pre-sale of tickets.
I think I hear a faint Scream from New Jersey
