In case you’ve forgotten (I certainly did), Disney has been developing a Space Mountain movie based on the popular theme park attraction. It’s been a while since we last heard about the project, but THR reports that the studio has tapped Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec to pen the script.
Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec are best known for writing Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but from what I understand, the Space Mountain ride doesn’t really have any memorable scenes or characters like those found in Pirates of the Caribbean, so the project could really go in any direction.
The Space Mountain movie was first announced close to four years ago, with Joby Harold (Obi-Wan Kenobi) set to write and produce. Although Harold will be passing scripting duties to Appelbaum and Nemec, he’s still attached as a producer alongside Tory Tunnell of Safehouse and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback.
The first Space Mountain attraction was introduced in Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort in 1975 and was followed by another at California’s Disneyland in 1977. More Space Mountain installations popped up in Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. The attraction is periodically rethemed as Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain.
When it comes to other upcoming movies based on Disney attractions, we’ve got another Pirates of the Caribbean movie to look forward to, but it may happen without Johnny Depp. Franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently said that the project will likely be a reboot, so they don’t have to wait on a performer’s availability. “You don’t know how they come together. You just don’t know,” Bruckheimer said. “Because with Top Gun you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies he does before he does Top Gun, I can’t tell you. But we’re gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.” There was also a female-led movie starring Margot Robbie, but that’s no longer moving forward.