'Flight of the Navigator' reboot moves forward because it's kinda-sorta like 'Stranger Things' and 'It'

In the year 2017, pop culture is still all about the '80s. It is a box office smash, Stranger Things 2 is still generating all the buzz ... and now, even Flight of the Navigator is getting pulled off the shelf and dusted off for a new generation.

Lionsgate is moving forward with a reboot of the 1986 adventure, with Joe Henderson (showrunnre of Lucifer) set to write.

The original Flight of the Navigator centers around a 12-year-old boy who goes missing, and then mysteriously reappears eight years later with a bunch of questions about his past. The answers to a lot of those questions involve aliens.

If that sounds kinda-sorta in the same vein as Stranger Things and It, well, that's probably why the project is gaining traction right now.

Disney, which released the 1986 film, attempted a reboot a few years ago, with Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly writing. Now that the project's moved over to Lionsgate – and now that it's got the strength of the most recent '80s nostalgia wave behind it – maybe it'll have better luck.

No release date has been announced for the new Flight of the Navigator, so we haven't the faintest idea when, or if, we can expect to see it in theaters.

But don't worry – there'll be plenty of other 1980s retreads to keep us busy while we wait. There's next weekend's Blade Runner sequel, next spring's Ready Player One, 2019's Top Gun and Terminator sequels ...