Rocket Boys taking flight again with new "December Sky" movie

May 13—COALWOOD — More than two decades after "October Sky" launched at the national box office, a new movie about the famed Rocket Boys of McDowell County is in the works.

"December Sky" will be more of an "equal" than a sequel to "October Sky," according to McDowell County native Homer Hickam, a former NASA engineer and author of the popular Coalwood memoirs, including "Rocket Boys," which was adapted into the 1999 motion picture "October Sky."

Hickam said the planning for "December Sky" dates back to 2017.

"In 2017, after negotiations with Universal Studios, I managed to reacquire for dramatic film/tv/stage purposes the characters in Rocket Boys aka October Sky," Hickam said. "The characters included me, my parents, the Rocket Boys, and numerous Coalwood people."

However, before Hickam could start working on a screenplay for a possible new movie, tragedy struck.

"That was the same year my house in the Virgin Islands was destroyed by hurricanes Irma and Maria so my focus for the next two years was on rebuilding," Hickam said. "Of course, after that came the pandemic during which I wrote my latest memoir "Don't Blow Yourself Up," released in 2021."

At that point, Hickam was able to return his focus to a possible second "Rocket Boys" movie.

"Only then was I able to turn to utilize the rights for the characters I had reacquired in 2017," he said. "To do that, I wrote a screenplay based on my memoir "The Coalwood Way," which I retitled "December Sky" since it takes place around Christmas, 1959. It is not a true sequel or prequel to "October Sky" since it takes place at the same time," he said. "Instead, I call it an "equal" and it tells a very different story although the Rocket Boys are in it. It is more a story of the people of Coalwood going through a challenging time around Christmas."

The project is very early in the planning stages. Hickam said actor Kevin Sizemore, a native of Mercer County who has appeared in numerous movies, including "Mine9," read the script and loved it.

"He suggested that he'd like to produce it if it could be done entirely in West Virginia," Hickam said. "I agreed with that and soon we had producers Bob and Jeff Tinnell who live in Morgantown come on board. The Tinnell brothers are accomplished movie-makers who I am confident will produce and direct a great motion picture based on my script."

Hickam and the Tinnell brothers recently toured Coalwood in McDowell County. They were joined by Dave Lavender, who heads up the West Virginia Film Office, and later met with Gov. Jim Justice.

Justice later took to Twitter to announce that a new "Rocket Boys" movie was in the works.

"Had the opportunity to see the original Rocket Boy, Homer Hickam, and WV native Kevin Sizemore last week," Justice said on Twitter. "If you haven't heard, Homer has a new movie on the way, "December Sky." Couldn't be more proud of these West Virginians!"

Since the new movie will be about Coalwood and McDowell County, the hope is to film it in West Virginia — and Coalwood.

"We hope to use locations in Coalwood and McDowell County during the shooting of the movie," Hickam said. "The Tinnell brothers were very impressed by what they saw during our visit. Dave Lavender, who heads up the West Virginia Film Office, also went with us while we were scouting locations. We also visited with Governor Justice to let him know of our plans and he promised to support production of the film in West Virginia any way he can."

The most important thing to remember right now is that the project is in the very early planning stages, according to Hickam.

"All this has happened rather quickly," he said. "The film is in development meaning we have begun pitching the screenplay to various film studios on its production. We have not set a cast but we have been talking to several well-known actors about it. Bottom line is nothing is set in stone concerning the film except we are confident that it will be made. Best I can say is "stay tuned!"

Actor Jack Gyllenhaal (known for roles such as "Spiderman: Far From Home," "Nightcrawler," and "Brokeback Mountain," played the role of Homer Hickam in "October Sky."

That movie had numerous references to the region, including Bluefield, and even included a scene with a fictional Bluefield Daily Telegraph reporter. The former Big Creek High School in War, a facility that was destroyed by fire in 2015 and later demolished, also is featured prominently in the original movie.

In the movie — and real life — it was the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957, that inspired Homer Hickam and his fellow Rocket Boys to pursue their dreams of rocketry and science.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com. Follow him @BDTOwens