For years, Disney has attempted to build new franchises by making movies based on its popular theme parks. From Pirates of the Caribbean to Jungle Cruise, to now multiple attempts at The Haunted Mansion Disney has found some success in this model, but now the concept is being taken one step further as a new Disney+ movie is being set up to tell the story of the creation of Disneyland itself. And while one might not expect the creation of the Happiest Place on Earth is anything like a horror movie, Halloween Kills director David Gordon Green has been tapped to helm the project.
The movie doesn’t have an official title but Variety reports the movie will be directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay written by Evan Spiliotopoulos. It will follow Walt Disney himself and his journey in creating Disneyland.
While David Gordon Green is known right now for directing the most recent movies in the Halloween franchise, he has, of course, directed a multitude of different sorts of projects, and that includes inspiring true story films like 2017’s Stronger, and more than likely that’s just the sort of movie this new Disneyland project will be.
After conquering the worlds of animation and feature films, Walt Disney had the idea to build an amusement park near the original location of the Disney Bros. Studio. That idea would eventually blossom into Disneyland.
And while Disneyland was a hit from day one, nobody, except possibly Walt, was ever sure of that. When Walt originally proposed the idea of DIsneyland, the company’s Board of Directors were less than sure of the idea. Walt ended up starting the company that would become Walt DIsney Imagineering entirely on his own. It wouldn’t actually become part of the Disney company until just before Walt’s death in the mid-1960s. It's easy to see why this topic could make for an interesting movie.
This won’t be the first time that Disney the company makes a movie that includes Disney the man as a character. In 2013 the studio released Saving Mr. Banks, a movie in part about the production of Mary Poppins. Tom Hanks starred as Walt Disney.
Tom Hanks name is once again floating around among fans, as his performance was certainly one of the highlights of that movie. At the same time, the events of this movie will take place about a decade before the events of Saving Mr. Banks, and by the time this movie likely starts filming, it will be around a decade since Hanks’ last played Walt.
So somebody new will likely need to play one of the most iconic men in entertainment, and follow in the footsteps of another of the most iconic men in entertainment. No pressure there.
