In Brad Bird we trust? You’re watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of Tomorrowland...
Just how many franchises can Disney juggle at once? It seems the answer is quite a lot!
In addition to acquired divisions Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, the Mouse House also has Disney
Animation, Live Action Fairy Tales and...theme park movies. Now this last one really only
boasts one success - The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, whose fifth movie is currently
in production. It all started with the 1997 TV movie Tower of Terror, after which there
was The Country Bears in 2002 - and then the same hear that Pirates debuted we got The
Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy. The scariest thing about that movie was how big it flopped...
But since Pirates has been SO successful, the Disney studio isn’t giving up on theme
park movies. Instead they took awhile to regroup and now we’re beginning to see fresh fruit
from their labors. For instance Disney has been flirting with a Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad TV series, and recently launched a comic book based on the attraction. And
Jon Favreau, currently working on Disney’s live action adaptation of The Jungle Book,
still hopes to make Magic Kingdom - a film about Disney’s crown jewel theme park coming
to life after hours. Whether or not his wish will be granted likely depends on how Tomorrowland
is received, as they’re similar concepts - bringing a theme park to life rather than
a specific attraction. And while Walt dreamed up all of this, Tomorrowland was particularly
close to his heart. He loved the past and the future equally, giving us both Main Street
USA and EPCOT - which was supposed to be real city where people could live, work and play!
The Incredibles’ Brad Bird and Lost’s Damon Lindelof have dug into Walt’s real
life history to create a narrative similar to kind typically dreamed up for one of Walt’s
famous rides! That Walt, an inventor and humanitarian who heavily influenced society, was part of
a secret group of futurists who built a REAL Tomorrowland meant to save...tomorrow. It
sounds wonderful, but can it escape some of the cynicism and spite that’s come to haunt
Walt’s legacy? Accusations of anti-semitism and misogyny have plagued Walt, with none
other than Meryl Streep recently speaking out against him! Plus there are all those
rumors about Walt’s frozen head... So while the Disney studio has never distanced itself
from its founder, it’s never made him a figurehead either. In fact, “Walt” has
been removed from the logos of the studio’s various divisions. Wouldn’t it be ironic
if Tomorrowland was undone by too strong an allegiance
to
the past...?