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The Spy Kids franchise will be rebooted with original creator Robert Rodriguez set to write and direct a new film for Skydance Media. The last Spy Kids film, 2011’s It’s About Time, released to negative critical reviews and an underwhelming performance at the box office. However, Rodriguez’s recent return to his Sharkboy and Lavagirl franchise with Netflix’s We Can Be Heroes showed there’s still a market for his unique brand of campy kid-centric sci-fi action.

The original Spy Kids was a massive success when released in 2001, capturing young viewers' imaginations with a blend of fast action, family comedy, and fun, lower-budget special effects. The film spawned two direct sequels in 2002 and 2003 and a fourth soft-reboot film in 2011, which featured new kids in the leading roles but brought back original protagonists Carmen and Juni Cortez. After the fourth film’s lackluster reception on multiple fronts, the series has remained dormant.

It looks like that’s about to change, however. According to Deadline, Spyglass Media Group, which owns the Spy Kids franchise, has agreed to a deal licensing the rights to reimagine the franchise to Skydance Media. Robert Rodriguez will be brought back to helm the project and write and direct the first new film. Gary Barber and Peter Oillataguerre of Spyglass will executive produce, opening the door for a whole new series of Spy Kids content for a new generation of young viewers.

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It’s been a decade since a new Spy Kids hit theaters, but the timing might be just right for the series to return. We Can Be Heroes reintroduced Sharkboy and Lavagirl to its original fan base – many of them now young parents themselves – and to a new generation of kids looking for light, exciting adventure stories. That same formula can work for Spy Kids as well. The original films’ focus on Latinx-American characters and families would undoubtedly be welcome in a modern Hollywood landscape that still has a lot of work to do for diversity both behind and in front of the camera.

Rebooting Spy Kids also makes a lot of sense for Skydance as it opens up franchise potential for a younger audience. The studio is best known for big-budget action films like Mission: Impossible, Netflix’s The Old Guard, and the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick. With Spy Kids, Skydance can branch out with a beloved family-friendly franchise as well.