John Travolta Directs Movie Based on Book Written for Late Son

Get this – John Travolta is directing a movie next month! It’s a fun, lighthearted film based on a children’s book he actually wrote way back in 1997. It turns out he’s been a secret author for quite some time!

John Travolta, the 72-year-old star of Grease, has directed a movie titled Propeller One-Way Night Coach. The film is based on a book he wrote and published as a tribute to his son, Jett, who tragically passed away from a seizure at age 16 in 2009.

The movie centers around a young boy experiencing his first time flying. John Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu, 26, also appears in the film as a flight attendant. This marks Ella Bleu’s acting debut, which she made at age 9 in the 2009 Disney comedy Old Dogs, alongside her father and the late Robin Williams.

According to an official synopsis for Propeller One-Way Night Coach shared by Deadline:

Jeff, a young boy with a passion for airplanes and played by newcomer Clark Shotwell, embarks on a cross-country trip to Hollywood with his mother (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett). What starts as a simple flight quickly becomes an unforgettable adventure. Along the way, they encounter friendly flight attendants (Ella Bleu Travolta and Olga Hoffmann), quirky fellow passengers, and a peek into the world of first class. Through these magical and surprising moments, the journey shapes Jeff’s dreams and sets him on a path toward the future.

The new Apple Original film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May before streaming on Apple TV+ starting May 29th. It’s a shorter film than a typical movie, described as “mid-length” by Deadline.

John Travolta’s Passion for Aviation

It’s fitting that John Travolta’s directorial debut is a movie about flying. He’s been fascinated with aviation since he began taking lessons at age 15, and still owns several planes today.

The actor owns a large, $10 million property in Florida covering 20 acres. Located at the private Jumbolair Airport, the estate includes its own runway and a taxiway that goes directly to the house, letting him park his personal planes right outside.

John Travolta is not only a celebrated actor, but also a skilled pilot. He was honored as a Living Legend of Aviation in 2007 and is qualified to fly many different large aircraft. He’s even put his aviation skills to use in his films, notably flying planes in Look Who’s Talking (1989) and Broken Arrow (1996).

So, I recently found out something pretty cool about John Travolta. Apparently, for his 72nd birthday back in February 2026, he went and got yet another pilot’s license! This time it was for the Bombardier Global Express – the guy’s a serious aviation enthusiast, and I totally admire that.

Lost Disney Animated Movies That Were Never Made

Who Discovered Roger Rabbit

So, after Who Framed Roger Rabbit blew everyone away in ’88, they tried for years to make a sequel. At first, it was going to be about Roger’s early life, even showing him enlisting in the army during World War II, with Steven Spielberg producing. But after he directed Schindler’s List, he moved on. Then, they revamped it as Who Discovered Roger Rabbit, focusing on how he became a star on Broadway and in Hollywood. They even shot some test footage – a really interesting mix of classic animation, live-action, and early CGI – but Disney wasn’t happy with it. Sadly, despite all the effort, the movie just never got made. It’s a real shame, because the concept sounded pretty cool!

Untitled Nightmare Before Christmas Sequel

In the early 2000s, Disney explored the possibility of creating a CGI sequel to the 1993 stop-motion classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. However, the film’s creator, Tim Burton, persuaded them to cancel the project, wanting to preserve the original’s unique quality. Instead, a direct continuation of the story appeared in 2004 as the Capcom video game, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge. More recently, director Henry Selick suggested making a prequel, but as of 2024, both Selick and Burton have stated they don’t plan to create any further films in the series.

Swan Lake

In the early 1990s, Disney planned to create an animated movie based on the famous ballet Swan Lake, fitting perfectly with their princess movie formula. However, they cancelled the project when they discovered that Richard Rich, a former Disney animator, was already making his own version called The Swan Princess. Released in 1994 by New Line Cinema, Rich’s film wasn’t successful in theaters, but it later gained a dedicated fan base on home video.

Don Quixote

For decades, Disney has repeatedly tried to create an animated movie based on the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote. The first attempt was in the 1940s, but it was canceled due to financial worries after Pinocchio and Fantasia didn’t perform well at the box office. At that time, the company also focused on making shorter films to support the war effort. Disney tried again in the 1950s with a different animation style, but that version didn’t move forward either. Most recently, in the early 2000s, Disney canceled another Don Quixote adaptation, believing the story was too mature for a family audience.

A Princess of Mars

In the early 1990s, Disney began developing an animated science fiction movie called A Princess of Mars, inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic novel. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was Disney’s CEO at the time, really wanted to make the film and offered it to renowned Disney directors Rob Clements and John Musker, but they turned it down. Almost twenty years later, Disney released a live-action version called John Carter in 2012, but it wasn’t successful in theaters.

Kingdom of the Sun

Before the fun, buddy-comedy The Emperor’s New Groove came out in 2000, Disney had been working on a very different movie called Kingdom of the Sun. This original version was planned as a darker, musical story about a prince and a witch named Yzma who wanted to plunge the world into darkness. Owen Wilson was set to voice the character Pacha, and the film even featured original songs by Sting. However, after early test screenings didn’t go well, the filmmakers had to start over. They dropped the traditional musical elements during the rework, but thankfully, a song originally intended for the film, “Snuff Out the Light” (sung by Eartha Kitt), still made it onto the movie’s soundtrack even though it wasn’t included in the final cut.

Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief

Before Disney launched the Tinker Bell film series in 2008, another Tinker Bell movie, Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief, was being made. Brittany Murphy, who sadly passed away, was originally going to be the voice of Tinker Bell. Planned for release in 2007, this film would have told the story of how Tinker Bell and Peter Pan first met. Disney released some early previews and trailers in the mid-2000s, but the project ultimately changed dramatically. Creative disagreements, money problems, and Disney’s shift from traditional 2D animation to 3D caused the film to be completely reworked.

Where the Wild Things Are

Long before the live-action Where the Wild Things Are movie came out in 2009, Disney considered making an animated version of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book. In 1983, animators Glen Keane and John Lasseter created a short test film showing Max’s playful antics in his room. This short combined classic hand-drawn animation with early 3D techniques, but Disney ultimately decided not to pursue a full-length film because it would have been too expensive and technically challenging to expand the short into a feature.

Gigantic

Originally announced at Disney’s D23 Expo in 2015, Gigantic was going to be a CGI-animated movie about a boy in Spain who makes friends with a giant girl named Inma. They would have discovered a hidden world among the clouds. The film, inspired by the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” was to have music by the creators of Frozen. However, it faced several delays and was ultimately canceled in 2017 due to disagreements about its creative direction, as explained by then-Disney animation president Ed Catmull. While the project is currently on hold with no plans for revival, a subtle nod to the film appears in Disney’s Zootopia.

Babes in Toyland

In 1955, Walt Disney originally intended to create an animated movie based on the beloved Christmas story, Babes in Toyland. But the project faced delays and was later transformed into a live-action film. Starring Annette Funicello, Disney’s Babes in Toyland premiered in 1961 and marked the company’s first full-length live-action musical.

Dufus

During the late 1980s, Disney considered making an animated movie based on J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, with a unique twist: talking and singing German shepherds. They even asked lyricist Howard Ashman to write songs for the film, which was tentatively titled Dufus. Unfortunately, Disney couldn’t secure the rights to the story from Salinger, so the project was ultimately abandoned.

Mistress Masham’s Repose

In the mid-1980s, Disney animator Joe Hale began working on a film called Mistress Mahasam’s Repose, inspired by T.H. White’s 1946 novel. The story would have centered on a young orphan who makes friends with a group of Lilliputians – the miniature people from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Although Roy E. Disney was enthusiastic about the project, then-CEO Michael Eisner didn’t approve, and the film was canceled. Now, you can still find some early artwork and character designs by renowned Disney animator Andreas Deja online, offering a glimpse of what could have been.

King of the Elves

Disney planned a 3D animated movie called King of the Elves, based on a 1953 short story by Philip K. Dick. The story follows a group of elves in the Mississippi Delta who crown a human as their king after he rescues them from a troll. The team behind Brother Bear was set to direct. However, the project faced several setbacks. It was put on hold in 2009, briefly returned to development in 2010, and ultimately cancelled a few years later due to problems with the story.

Newt

Back in 2008, Disney revealed Pixar was developing a movie called Newt. It was going to be about two endangered blue-footed newts—a male and a female—who started to connect during a shared adventure, even though they didn’t initially get along. Originally planned for release around 2011 or 2012, a little newt carving even made a quick appearance in Pixar’s Brave as a hidden detail. Ultimately, the film was canceled because the story was too similar to the 2011 movie Rio from Blue Sky Studios.

My Peoples (AKA A Few Good Ghosts)

In the early 2000s, Disney began developing an animated film about a young couple from rival families in the Appalachian Mountains who turned to a group of haunted folk art dolls for help. The movie, which had tentative titles like My Peoples and A Few Good Ghosts, would have starred Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Hal Holbrook, and blended traditional animation with CGI. Barry Cook, who co-directed Mulan, was set to direct, and the film would have featured a bluegrass soundtrack. However, Disney canceled the project in late 2003, reportedly to focus on the more commercially promising Chicken Little. Some of the folk doll characters later made a very brief, almost unnoticeable appearance in the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons.

2026-04-02 22:29