MAGIC KINGDOM Movie could be Disney's THE AVENGERS
Disney is known for making movie based on the rides at their theme parks likes The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. But now it looks like they are going to develop a film based on the whole entire theme park itself called Magic Kingdom. Disney will use one of their theme parks as the setting for a family adventure, much like the Night of the Museum movies.
Battlestar Galactica TV series creator and writer Ronald Moore has actually already written a script based on his own idea for the project that will be produced by Marc Abraham and Eric Newman through their Universal-based Strike Entertainment production company. The initial plot for this film took place inside Disneyland.
Disney and the producers now want to move forward with developing this Magic Kingdom project but they will be bring on a new writer who has yet to be hired. I don't know what it is about Moore, but is seems like every film project he writes, the studios bring in another screenwriter to re-write his scripts. I think it's because they still arn't really sure how they want to tackle the movie.
Apparently the project isn't a high priority for the studio right now, just an idea they are playing with. They see it as a way to showcase several of their high-profile Disney characters. like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and everything else Disney owned. Apparently people at the studio are referring to Magic Kingdom as Disney's own Justice League and The Avengers. Like what Marvel is doing with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America, Disney could start rolling out single character based movies of their own characters, building up to a big epic team Disney character film like The Avengers, but in this case it's Magic Kingdom.
Who knows what they'll end up doing, but if this movie ends up getting made, it would be a huge money maker for the studio. Just look at how well Pirates did at the box-office. I just don't think Disney could loose with a movie like this regardlass of how bad it could end up being. There's always the chance it could end up being awesome!
As you may or may not know, Disney's Hyperion already publishes similar-sounding book series called Kingdom Keepers, where a group of Florida teens are transformed into holographic guides at Disney World and battle Sleeping Beauty's evil queen Maleficent as the park's characters come to life.
I doubt this new film will have anything to do with that, but I'm interested to see what the studio ends up doing with Magic Kingdom.
As of right now, Disney is focusing on launching Tron: Legacy in December, a reboot that will be prominently integrated into Anaheim's California Adventure park starting next week. A fourth Pirates of the Caribbean is shooting in Hawaii, while Guillermo del Toro is readying an adaptation of The Haunted Mansion, and then of course David Fincher is going to develop the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea adventure film, whose original version was the basis of Disneyland's original submarine ride. Also in development are scripts based on the Jungle Cruise ride and Tomorrowland, an outer space adventure that loosely ties in with the themed area of Disneyland. Tim Burton is also working on a film based on the Sleeping Beauty villain Maleficent with Angelina Jolie. A new live-action retelling of Cinderella is also in the works, while the upcoming Tangled is an animated take on Rapunzel.
All of these films could eventually wind up in Magic Kingdom.