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Disney Turning Tomorrowland Into a Feature Film, Too?!

by Alex Billington
September 18, 2008

After successfully earning about $1 billion theatrically from a theme park ride converted into a feature film, Disney is doing it all over again. First it was Pirates of the Caribbean, now it's Tomorrowland - their futuristic section of the theme park that will be used as "inspiration" for a new space movie. Don't be so quick to shrug this one off, because it could become the next big franchise like Pirates of the Caribbean and we just can't see it yet. Dwayne Johnson is being setup as the lead in the film and writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (of Rebound, Full of It, and Four Christmases) have been hired to write an "epic-sized action adventure set in space." To add more fuel to the fire, the currently untitled film is being produced by the same guys who brought us Dwayne Johnson's The Game Plan.

Disney apparently denies that this film is dedicated to Tomorrowland or that it will even be titled Tomorrowland, but instead they claim it's an entirely original script. It seems like it's far away from actually coming together, so for now we'll just see how it all works out, including whether the script is any good. As for the concept itself, you know, I really don't have that big of a problem with it. I'm more worried about it being a stupid kid's movie than a dark, intense, or sophisticated sci-fi film or theme park spoof. Any kid who has ever been to Disneyworld or Disneyland knows that it's a magical place. And as long as Disney applies that same magic to this film, then it should be good. Am I wrong there? It may be a bit odd to think about, but a movie inspired by Tomorrowland isn't that bad of an idea.

Filed under Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

The Delightful Deviant

Pirates was not their first theme park related movie nor would Tomorrowland be their second. Disney released the Country Bears first and following Pirates there was The Haunted Mansion. this sounds just as forgettable as the previous two, Pirates is only an exception thanks to the casting of good actors like Depp and Rush.
http://www.theaterhopper.com Tom Brazelton

Didn't Disney already kind of do a Tommorrowland movie when they produced Meet the Robinsons?
http://bleepinggeek.com Peter

I'm with Tom (#2) - I was under the impression that Meet the Robinsons was the Tomorrowland feature film. I actually hope it stays that way - MTR was a decent movie with a good message. And when did we stop adding "The Rock" to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson? Is there some kind of magical formula out there where you're allowed to dump a ridiculous nom de guerre after a certain amount of blockbuster movies? Once you start getting "taken seriously"? If this is true, I just hope that the movies end up more like The Rundown than The Game Plan (his last Disney movie).
Dusty

haha.. Peter and Tom.. I am wondering the exact and said it to myself the moment I saw the article. WHAT is of interest in TomorrowLand anyways... yeah, I bet they need a script... CAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING THERE that stands on its own. ZZZZZZZ....
random guy

Actually, it started with a movie based on The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror ride which now every disney theme park has now. It was more of a disney channel movie or straight to dvd type of deal but it was the one that started the whole "lets make a movie of all our rides deal"...Cause then country bears, pirates, haunted mansion and i heard once they were going to make a space mountain type of movie once but i guess they were refering to Tomorrowland....
Tim "Cloverfield"

This would of been a kick ass idea.....in 1968.
Alfredo

If they really want a movie about a ride... why not Splash Mountain? ....in a Huck Finn -type setting, with an adventure and the coming of age of some country kid.
Mike

Splash Mountain is based on a movie, Song of the South. If Disney wants a kickass Tomorrowland movie, it has to be People Mover: The Movie!
Bryan

I say the only Disney ride related movie they should do now is Matterhorn from Entourage Season 2. "Die Hard at Disneyland" That idea only has my $10
crAziemutant

hm? if it's a straight up kids movie, i'll pass. but if they make it witty dark comedy for everyone...sounds like fun. either way, interesting.
http://www.drduvel.net Dr. Duvel

Baaaaaaad..... Alex, I understand your need to report this, it is significant, but, please, lets not celebrate it.
ImaginaryVisionary

Pirates is Disney's only successful feature film based on an attraction. Country Bears and Haunted Mansion were both terrible....mostly because they made them cliche' kids films. Haunted Mansion had potential, but they dropped the ball with the severed head in it on that one. A Space Mountain Movie could be pretty entertaining because there is a back story to Space Mountain. I used to work at Disney World and at one point I knew the fictional story that the ride is based around, but I can't remember the details now. But if they were to stick to that story it could have some potential because for an old roller coaster that ride is still pretty cool. The casting of "the Rock" doesn't give me a lot of confidence though. The plot won't be as good as pirates without the acting credential to balance it. If this happens we're probably looking at another Haunted Mansion....but for what it's worth there aren't a lot of sci-fi space fantasy kids flicks so at least they'll be getting something new.