Given the ridiculous success of both The Avengers and Iron Man 3 you wouldn't think that Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Company would have to try too hard to lure people into theaters for the upcoming Thor: The Dark World, but the studios are going for a big play anyway - namely by setting up an attraction for the new movie at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Variety, which first reported news, doesn't have too many details about what the studios have in store for the theme park, but evidently guests at the park “will be able to visit Asgard this fall and come face-to-face with the Mighty Avenger, Thor." Presumably this means that they will be building a set from the God of Thunder's home world, but what exactly they have planned is unclear at this point. It's entirely possible that they will be setting up something similar to what we saw on the convention floor at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2010, which featured a full-scale version of Odin's throne as well as a statue of The Destroyer:
To get an idea of what they might have planned, we may have to look no further than the attraction that was built as Disneyland prior to the release of Iron Man 3 earlier this year. In the weeks before the movie hit theaters, fans could go to the park and walk around Tony Stark's laboratory and check out the armory of classic and new suits that the hero had built. Watch the video below to get a better look:
Sadly, those of you who are hoping that we will soon see Iron Man or Thor roller-coaster rides at Disneyland may not want to hold your breath. Prior to Marvel's deal with Disney they signed a contract with Universal Studios’ parks that gives them exclusive rights to make rides based on Marvel superheroes. Until the end of that contract Marvel and Disney will just have to stick with cool looking sets and photo-ops.
Thor: The Dark World, directed by Alan Taylor, has the titular hero returning to Asgard where he finds himself face-to-face with an apocalyptic threat in the form of Malekith the Accursed (Christopher Eccleston) and his army of Dark Elves. Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins will all reprise their roles from the first movie while new additions to the lineup include Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (as Algrim the Strong a.k.a. Kurse), and Zachary Levi (who is replacing Josh Dallas as Fandral). See the film in theaters on November 8th.
