Aircraft Pictures is teaming up with Dolphin Entertainment to produce a new feature adaptation of the 1986 sports drama, Youngblood, with rising filmmaker Charles Officer (Akilla’s Escape) on board to direct. The film is slated to begin principal photography in early 2023.
Youngblood follows hockey prodigy Dean Youngblood, who joins the Hamilton Bulldogs and discovers he must face off against toxic behavior on the ice and within himself, to fulfill his dream of being drafted into the National Hockey League. The original film, distributed by MGM, starred Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves in his feature debut, and has since become a cult classic among hockey fans.
“Quite a bit has changed since Youngblood premiered more than thirty years ago,” said Aircraft’s Co-Founder and Co-President, Leo. “With a visionary director like Charles, and with support from our financial partners and Dolphin Entertainment, this adaptation couldn’t be in better hands.”
“In revisiting the Youngblood story, we’re given an opportunity to take this incredibly emotional and entertaining narrative and update it for an entirely new generation,” said Dolphin Entertainment’s CEO, O’Dowd. “We’re excited to flip the original story on its head and explore how its themes of family, coming-of-age and masculinity will resonate differently today.”
“The opportunity to re-imagine the beloved classic hockey drama Youngblood is a gift,” added Officer, “and I am excited to bring a fresh story that centers on an African American hockey prodigy to the screen.”
Officer is an award-winning director whose selected works include the crime-noir feature Akilla’s Escape, which premiered at the 2021 Toronto Festival and won five Canadian Screen Awards; the recent BET+/CBC television drama The Porter, which he also exec produced; and Mighty Jerome, which earned a 2012 Emmy for Best Historical Documentary. His television directing credits include the CBS drama Ransom, the Netflix soccer drama 21 Thunder, ABC’s Rookie Blue and NBC’s Saving Hope. The filmmaker is no stranger to hockey, having played professionally when drafted to the Calgary Flames farm team, prior to venturing into directing. He is also founding member of the first Canadian Black Screen Office.
Based in Toronto with an office in Los Angeles, Aircraft Pictures’ recent projects include the upcoming Apple TV+ series Circuit Breakers; the Hulu Original series Holly Hobbie; the animated series Summer Memories for WildBrain; the Oscar-nominated animated feature The Breadwinner; three television movies based on the Bruno & Boots book series by Canadian young adult fiction author Gordon Korman; the supernatural comedy series Todd & The Book of Pure Evil; and the Kidscreen Award-winning single-camera comedy Raising Expectations, created by Tom Saunders (Arrested Development) and starring Jason Priestley and Molly Ringwald. Aircraft received a milestone investment from Canadian media and content company Corus Entertainment Inc. earlier this year, which will prove key in supporting its growth ambitions in producing quality family-focused entertainment for the global marketplace.
Dolphin Entertainment is an Emmy-nominated creator of television, digital and feature film content. Its division is most well-known for its decade-long partnership with Nickelodeon across a slate of prime-time, live-action series and movies, including the top-rated series, Zoey 101. Dolphin’s feature films include the Mattel co-production Max Steel and the Justin Bieber documentary Believe. In Cannes this year, Dolphin announced a partnership with Imax to co-finance, co-produce and co-distribute feature documentaries. The first project on their joint slate is The Blue Angels, also to be produced by Bad Robot, Zipper Bros. and Glen Powell. In addition to its legacy production business, Dolphin owns six notable Entertainment PR and Marketing agencies, including leading Film/TV agency 42West.
reported by deadline.com
