Disney is moving forward with another movie based on a beloved theme park attraction. This time it’s Space Mountain. The film will join the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise and The Haunted Mansion as Disney seeks to expand its theme park attractions into movies and licensed products.
While the movie has been in development limbo for quite some time, it’s being resuscitated by the showrunners of Netflix’s short-lived live-action Cowboy Bebop series which… was a thing.
Per The Hollywood Reporter…
Action scribes Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec are going to Disneyland.
The prolific team behind Amazon’s high-profile spy series Citadel and showrunners on Netflix’s adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, have been tapped to write Disney’s live-action adaptation of Space Mountain.
Jonathan Eirich from Rideback, the banner that is behind Netflix’s hit live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series, is producing the feature, which has been in development for several years, along with Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell of Safehouse Pictures. Harold was the project’s previous writer. Rideback’s Ryan Halprin is exec producing.
Space Mountain is, of course, a venerable dark coaster in most Disney Parks’ Tomorrowland.
Curiously, Disney did produce a Tomorrowland movie about a decade ago. It starred George Clooney and was directed by Brad Bird. Critical reactions were mixed, and the movie was a box office dud. But one has to wonder if it wasn’t the first step toward a “Tomorrowland cinematic universe” of some kind, and if Space Mountain wasn’t put on ice after Tomorrowland failed to launch.
Speaking of box office duds, both Jungle Cruise and the recent Haunted Mansion reboot were box office duds, coming nowhere near the box office receipts of Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean series.
While Space Mountain ride has no real story to it (that I’m aware of) it’ll be interesting to see what Disney comes up with should they actually go through with it this time.
And Disney, if you’re reading this? Base it on the Disneyland version of Space Mountain, as it’s vastly superior to Walt Disney World’s… which is just a rickety Carnie ride. And keep the soundtrack. Thanks.
[Source: THR]
Pirates & Princesses (TM) (Stylized as PNP) is an independent, opinionated News and Information site focused on Travel, Entertainment, Fashion, the “Geek Girl” Lifestyle, and more. We focus heavily on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando Resort, and other themed entertainment and travel destinations. Our news staff includes former theme park and entertainment industry employees, journalists and dedicated pop culture and theme park enthusiasts. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of this site, our affiliates or our sponsors.