The Mighty Ducks was released at what can be called the Golden Era of children's sports movies. The trilogy launched itself as a modern classic that stands right up there alongside Space Jam or Rudy. With the movies being over 20 years old, it's since spawned into an animated series, an NHL team, and there's some hope that a fourth movie will be in production. Outside of Emilio Estevez as coach Gordon Bombay, the young cast was made up of mostly unknown actors.

However, one particular cast member went down a dark rabbit hole.

The Mighty Ducks Is A Hockey Version Of The Bad News Bears

Buena Vista Pictures/MovieStillsDb

Writer Steve Brill confirmed to TMZ that the movie is based on the baseball comedy that served as his inspiration: "I had idolized The Bad News Bears my whole life. I thought that was a great movie, and I thought it would be great to make a movie that could stand up and be another."

On top of that, Brill was particularly affected by hockey's growing popularity in California, all thanks to the arrival of Wayne Gretzky.