Disney Developing Movie Based on Matterhorn Ride
Disney has unsurprisingly started development on a new adventure film based on the Disneyland's centerpiece ride, Matterhorn ride. The studio has hired Jason Dean Hall to write the script for the film, and Tron: Legacy producer Justin Springer will produce the film. As of right now the working title of the film is called The Hill.
For those of you who have been on the ride you hop on in a bobsled and race down the mountain with some monstrous Abominable Snowmen trying to kill you. Well, actually they just kind of stand there with their glowing red eyes growling at you. The ride was opened in 1959 and Walt Disney was inspired to develop it after a trip he took to Switzerland.
According to THR "the idea behind The Hill is to do a thrilling, fast-paced movie centering on five young adventure seekers who, for mysterious reasons, are called to the top of the mountain and encounter a Yetis on the journey down." Well, that's pretty much what the ride is.
Disney is on a roll with turning it's rides into big budget tent-pole films. They've adapted Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hunted Mansion, which they are doing again with Guillermo del Toro, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with David Fincher. We've also heard about a Tomorrow Land movie in development and then of course there's Jon Favreau's Magic Kingdom.
Hall, the screenwriter brought in to write the project also worked on Ashton Kutcher's Spread, which I didn't care for, and he's working on other film projects such as Robin Hood 2058, set up at Warner Bros., Grand Theft Auto, and a sci-fi action film called Blacklight.
This could make for a fun film, of course it could always turn out bad. Hopefully it doesn't. What do you all think about Disneyland's Matterhorn getting the big screen treatment?