Corey Feldman recounts his and Sean Astin's failed Goonies sequel pitch

While shows like Stranger Things can help stave off the nostalgia-driven jonesing that can infect some diehard ‘80s fans, few things can hold their own with the original properties that inspired these fandoms in the first place. One of the most prominent genre endeavors of the era, and one that was famously never followed up on, is The Goonies. The classic adventure film from director Richard Donner, writer Chris Columbus, and producer Steven Spielberg is one of the reasons that ‘80s reference porn like Stranger Things cast Sean Astin in the first place — and now his costar Corey Feldman has divulged how he and Astin once tried to get their own Goonies sequel off the ground.

Speaking to US Magazine, Feldman and Astin recounted their time attempting to tell more stories about the group of goofballs that stumbled upon One-Eyed Willy’s pirate treasure. Indiana Jones got sequels, so why not these kids? 

“Sean Astin and I actually wrote a pitch, a treatment of about 10 pages that we took into Richard Donner and a representative of Chris Columbus and Steven [Spielberg],” said Feldman. “We pitched it and Donner loved it, but he said it was too expensive an idea.” What could’ve been included in those 10 pages that could’ve immediately alerted the Superman director? A UFO? An undersea caper? No matter, since the idea was quashed. But that didn’t kill Feldman’s readiness to board a sequel.

Astin has been speaking about a sequel to The Goonies for years, while Feldman has been relatively cool on the idea of it happening in the first place. Partially, that opinion still stands for the latter actor, who says that the sprawling cast and creatives simply “can’t get everyone to agree on” one idea for the script. One thing’s for sure: he doesn’t want to see a reboot. “I’m a fan of the actual sequel, not of finding a new cast and doing it over,” he said. But even if the stars align and the cast all agree to reprise their roles (which Josh Brolin recently told SYFY WIRE he wouldn’t), there are plenty of stumbling blocks preventing the standalone film from ever being more than that.

“I’d say the chances of it happening at this point are very slim, as Richard Donner is like 80-something years old now,” Feldman said of the 89-year-old director. “It’s not quite like the old days where he’s able to fire off a movie here every few years…I know he’s got it in him. He’s still got a lot of energy. He’s moving around. He’s good.”