The 1986 hockey classic Youngblood is getting a reboot, courtesy of director Charles Officer. Aircraft Pictures and Dolphin Entertainment announced the remake, which will center around African-American hockey player named Dean Youngblood, who relocates from Detroit to Hamilton, Ontario to play for the Ontario Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs. There, he must tackle toxicity from within and without if he intends to reach his goals; winning Canadian junior hockey’s top trophy, the Memorial Cup, and playing in the National Hockey League.
Along the way, he gets mentored by the team captain, faces off with a rival goon, and romances his coach’s daughter. Director Officer is no stranger to the fastest game on ice; he was a hockey player himself, playing for the minor-league Georgetown Raiders and the British Hockey League’s Norwich and Peterborough Pirates before retiring due to injury. Officer said of the project, “The opportunity to re-imagine the beloved classic hockey drama Youngblood is a gift, and I am excited to bring a fresh story that centers on an African American hockey prodigy to the screen.”
In the 1986 MGM original, Rob Lowe portrays Youngblood, who plays for the fictional Hamilton Mustangs. Gifted with offensive skills but lacking in physicality, Youngblood finds a more balanced game after being mentored by older teammate Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze), and finds romance in the form of Cynthia Gibb. The movie features appearances by contemporary NHL stars Peter Zezel and Steve Thomas, and also contains the big-screen debut of a young Keanu Reeves, who was a hockey player himself. It was a moderate box office success at the time, but found its audience later thanks to cable TV and home video, and is considered a classic, albeit a cheesy one, by hockey fans.
Officer is a veteran actor and director, and has helmed episodes of a number of Canadian TV shows, including Private Eyes, Coroner, and The Porter. He has previously directed two features, 2008’s Nurse.Fighter.Boy, and 2020’s Akilla’s Escape. Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Seneca Aaron, and Officer will write the script. Bill O’Dowd and Emerson Davis will serve as executive produce for Dolphin Entertainment; Mark Slone and Zanne Devine will executive produce for Photon Films. Anthony Leo and Andrew Rosen will produce; Jake Yanowski will co-produce.
Youngblood is slated to begin shooting in early 2023.
