Disney Is Once Again Trying To Turn A Classic Theme Park Ride Into A Movie — But Will It Work This Time?
Disney is once again trying to make a "Space Mountain" movie happen. This is one of the company's most cherished theme park rides as a staple of both Disneyland and Disney World for decades. Now, a pair of new writers have been brought on board to try and crack the code with this long-gestating adaptation. Whether or not they will be the ones to get it across the finish line is another question entirely.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec have been tapped to write the latest iteration of "Space Mountain" for Disney. Plot details are being kept under wraps for the time being. Applebaum and Nemec are known for their work on Amazon's wildly expensive series "Citadel," as well as Netflix's live-action "Cowboy Bebop" series, which was canceled after just one season. Jonathan Eirich is on board to produce the film alongside Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell, with Ryan Halprin executive producing.
Harold, who previously wrote "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword," had been tapped to pen a version of the film back in 2020. For whatever reason, Disney is now opting to move in a new direction. Applebaum and Nemec will have an essentially blank slate to work from, as the ride in question doesn't have any real narrative to speak of, nor does it have any meaningful characters to include. It will merely be used as an inspiration for what will essentially be a unique story that these two are going to have to cook up. Is that blank slate an asset? Or is that part of why this movie has been in development for so long?
Disney's long, checkered history of theme park ride movies
Disney has been a little obsessed with turning its various theme park attractions into movies ever since "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" kicked off a $4.5 billion franchise more than 20 years ago. That was a long time ago and, in the years since, they've had far more failures than successes on that front. "Mission to Mars," "The Country Bears," "Tomorrowland," and two different "Haunted Mansion" movies have failed to deliver commercially. The studio has perhaps lost more money on those flops than it ever made from "Pirates."
On the one hand, it's easy to see why Disney sees value in trying to turn these attractions into movie franchises. When they hit, they hit big. But when they fail, they fail really big. "Space Mountain" would presumably be a big sci-fi adventure. That kind of movie doesn't come cheap. However, this could give the powers that be an excuse to pour money into a revamp of the ride itself, which is decades old at this point and could use some work. That's speculative but it would potentially come with the territory.
It is, at this stage, hard to know what the holdup is regarding this movie. Max Landis ("Chronicle") wrote a "Space Mountain" movie that he sold to Disney in 2012, but that never got off the ground. Is it that Disney is just nervous about spending big money on what will essentially be an original sci-fi movie, which is a big gamble to make? It's hard to say but what's important here is that the Mouse House is still trying, so they certainly believe it's worth chasing.
The "Space Mountain" movie does not currently have a release date.