I'm taking a break from the normal history video today to talk about a theory I have.
It's something I started thinking about after some parks news we got last week that I'll
talk about in a minute, but before I dive in I want to be very clear: this is just a theory.
So please don't read into it beyond that.
I thought it'd be fun to share so that if I end up being right in two years or so I
get to go "Oooh. Aaaah. Look at me, the Disney genius!"
And if I'm wrong... well... we can pretend this never happened.
You see, I believe we're in the middle of seeing Disney run a litmus test in other parks
to see if it would be worth building a Marvel land in Disney's Hollywood Studios.
In the past, particularly during the Michael Eisner era of the company, Disney was not
afraid to partner with outside creators and companies to bring attractions to the parks.
In fact it was one of Eisner's tactics to bring more relevance to their parks at a time
where all they had were animated classics from decades prior.
We saw attractions based on Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and the Muppets.
We had a whole theme park named after another movie studio featuring among others, a ride
based on a bunch of non-Disney owned films.
Many of these attractions even became considered classics despite being built upon intellectual
property, otherwise known as IP, that wasn't Disney owned.
Disney eventually purchased the Muppets, making that a Disney IP.
Under Iger we saw Disney purchase LucasFilm which made Indiana Jones and Star Wars become
Disney IP as well.
Suddenly the number of rides based on non-Disney IPs were shrinking thanks to acquisitions.
Then in a departure from that, Pandora opened, introducing two new attractions based on Avatar,
another non-Disney IP.
It was a move seen as odd by many though I actually think Disney's mind was in the right
place when they decided to build the land.
I have a whole video on that if you're interested in hearing more.
So we were left with six attractions, all anchored to brands and IP Disney didn't own.
Then whaddya know, it's announced that The Great Movie ride is being replaced by a Mickey
and Minnie attraction and would you look at that, Ellen is also going to be replaced,
this time for a Guardians of the Galaxy ride.
Less than a year later it's announced that Disney is planning to acquire 20th Century
Fox and along with it, the Avatar property.
Assuming that deal closes, we're now left with just two remaining attractions.
The Tower of Terror, based on The Twilight Zone, and Rock n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith.
Two attractions that happen to be situated right next to one another in their little
corner of Hollywood Studios.
Now to me, it seems clear that through acquisition or otherwise, Disney is looking to rid their
parks of attractions based on properties they don't own.
We've already seen California's Tower of Terror rethemed into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride,
and now we've just learned that Paris' Rock n Roller Coaster is going to be re-themed
to an Iron Man attraction, both, coincidentally, Marvel rides.
I think we're possibly going to see the same happen to Florida's Rock n Roller Coaster
and that we're also going to see the remaining Tower of Terrors also get a Marvel retheme.
It helps that Florida's Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror are right next to each other.
It would allow Disney to throw the Beauty and the Beast show into the mix and redo the
entire corner of the park into a Marvel land that could serve to match California Adventure's
rumored upcoming Marvel Land.
I believe these two initial rethemes in California and Paris are the litmus test Disney is performing
before they pull the trigger.
Now, many will point out or have already commented that a contract between Disney and Universal
currently prevents Disney from using a good number of Marvel characters in their Florida parks.
This is true.
However contracts like that can be bought out or renegotiated as long as the price is
right and Universal is willing to play ball.
If you asked me a year ago, I'd say that price would be entirely cash.
However with the current Fox deal in the works, Disney is about to step into a whole new library
of IP that they can potentially use as a bargaining chip.
Sure, they'll want to hold on to the obvious properties like Avatar and the XMen, but what
about something like the Alien franchise, or Kingsman, or Planet of the Apes?
Can you really see Disney focusing on these films?
If not, why not offer some of them up to Universal, another film studio that could use them, to
sweeten the pot and get back ride rights Disney would easily put to use.
Some might say there's already a Guardians of the Galaxy ride coming to Epcot, so Disney
wouldn't put another one in Disney World.
However to that I say, why not?
We have two Toy Story rides in two different parks in Florida, and they even share a similar concept.
You've got a Frozen show in Hollywood Studios and a ride in Epcot.
Little Mermaid in Hollywood Studios and a ride in the Magic Kingdom.
Nemo in Epcot and also the Animal Kingdom.
Look, I'm not about to say it's common, but it doesn't seem outside of the realm of possibility
either.
Now another point worth noting is that technically they don't need Universal to play ball for
them to retheme The Tower of Terror.
We're already getting an Epcot Guardians ride so clearly the Guardians fall outside of Universal's
contract.
So why not re-theme it now?
This is true, but I believe Disney would see the benefit of retheming that whole corner
of the park at once into a Marvel land rather than just changing the Tower and risk it being
the lone Marvel ride at the end of Sunset Blvd in the event they couldn’t get the
rights to use the other characters later down the line.
I suspect they were OK with doing that with California's Tower because they know they
don't have to worry about Marvel rights there and will be able to expand that space into
a Marvel land whenever they want.
I also think they’re performing this slower litmus test because at the moment with Toy
Story land and Star Wars land still in the works, not to mention everything planned for
Disney World’s 50th anniversary, they know that any possible Marvel Land and retheme
would be years out from now.
It just seems too coincidental to me that the two final remaining non-Disney rides at
Disney World are seeing their California and Paris counterparts rethemed at relatively
around the same time to the same brand: Marvel.
In any case, even if I’m completely wrong about the Marvel/Universal stuff, I think
looking at the history of Disney’s third-party IP attractions paints a pretty clear picture.
I think regardless of what they’re rethemed to, both Rock and Roller Coaster and the Tower
of Terror are next on the chopping block once Star Wars land opens and the park can risk
to lose two E-ticket attractions.
I know many won’t like to hear that, but Disney’s MO these past few years has been
clear: Disney rides that promote Disney brands.
Now I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Like I said, I’m not basing any of this off of privileged information, I’m just
playing a guessing game with what we know.
Does any of this make sense?
Am I missing some crucial detail that shatters this theory?
Would you like to see this happen or hate it?
Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you all for watching, and I’ll see you next time.