Not content with mining their animated back catalogue for live-action crowd-pleasers such as Cruella and yesterday’s Snow White project, Disney look to be ramping up their adaptations of their own theme park attractions.
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – itself based upon the famous dark ride opened in 1967 – earned the studio uncountable doubloons during its five-film run (a reboot is in development, sans Depp), and this July 30th will see audiences invited to take a Jungle Cruise with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Cruise is similarly based on Disney’s beloved ride, and time will tell whether it’s as potent a draw as Pirates (it certainly looks a blast!), but the studio seems confident enough to announce plenty more…
A second stab at a Haunted Mansion movie has been in development for a while now, Space Mountain was announced recently (penned by Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi Executive Producer and writer Joby Harold), and now comes news via Collider that Disney’s Tower of Terror is also on the slate. Beyond Pirates, Cruise, Mansion, or Mountain, this seems by far the most unusual idea on paper. While the latter attractions are already steeped in story and mythology, Tower of Terror is about a broken lift.
As unusual as the choice is, once you learn that the multi-award-winning and always-in-demand Scarlett Johansson is on board to not only star, but produce too, it’s easy to assume that herself and writer Josh Cooley (Inside Out) have already cooked up an interesting way to elevate the material.
Everything else is steeped in secrecy at present, but there’ll be plenty more details on the way as development progresses. As for Scarlett herself, she’ll be back on the big screen in just a few weeks’ time when Black Widow (finally) hits cinemas and Disney+ Premier Access on July 7th.
