Friday, February 11, 2011

Disney Developing Movie for Scrapped Park Attraction ‘Museum of the Weird’

Disney The Museum of the Weird movie

Those that’ve been neurotically wringing their hands, waiting for news about Disney’s next theme park ride-turned movie project – rejoice! The company has another one in the production pipeline, but it’s not based on Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, or one the company’s better-known rides, but an attraction known as The Museum of the Weird.

Chances are that attraction name doesn’t ring a bell and with good reason – The Museum of the Weird failed to make it past the conception stage, despite winning the approval of Walt Disney himself.

Disney “imagineers” Claude Coats and Rolly Crump were involved in the development and design of numerous famous Disney park attractions, including The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. The two fashioned plans for an attraction to compliment their Haunted Mansion – one titled The Museum of the Weird. It would be populated by oddball objects like talking chairs, enchanted carts, and organ-playing specters. While the museum never came to fruition, certain components were incorporated into the mansion itself.

24 Frames is reporting that Disney has been talking to screenwriter Ahmet Zappa about developing a script based off the abandoned Museum of the Weird. Zappa has already been brought onboard by the company to pen Tiki, a project that is reportedly not based on the Enchanted Tiki Room (though we suggest you take that claim with a grain of salt).

Museum of the Weird would be the latest addition to the upcoming slate of Disney rides-turned cinematic adventures, whose ranks include next year’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; Guillermo del Toro’s Haunted Mansion reboot; Jon Favreau’s Magic Kingdom; and technically even the book-turned-movie-turned-ride-turned-David Fincher project, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Jon Favreau talks about the Magic Kingdom Movie This whole place is literally coming soon to a theater near you.

Disney has hired on quite the motley crew of talented filmmakers to realize its famed theme park rides on the big screen. The idea of del Toro crafting a haunted house movie or Fincher tackling Jules Verne’s dark tale of sea serpents and maniacal submarine captains would be quite appealing on its own, while Favreau’s enthusiam for the Magic Kingdom project is admittedly kind of infectious.

All of these films are cash cows in the making for the company – as they could make for popular fare at the box office and come with already built in marketing ties. The first Pirates of the Caribbean turned out to be a rollicking fun bit of blockbuster adventure – could any of these new theme park attraction-based projects be the same?

We’ll keep you posted on the development of The Museum of the Weird as more news comes our way.

Source: LA Times

“Museum of the Weird” conceptual art by Rolly Crump


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