Max Landis Shares Details About His Never Produced Space Mountain Script

Yes, at one point Disney was developing a Space Mountain film. And after the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, can you really blame them? Let us not mention Disney’s attempts to turn Tomorrowland, Haunted Mansion, and Country Bear Jamboree into films. Oops… I guess I just did.

In 2012, Max Landis, the writer behind Chronicle and American Ultra, sold a Space Mountain screenplay to Disney. Unfortunately for Landis, the production on the project came to a stand-still when Disney announced they had acquired Lucasfilm and were planning on making new Star Wars films, the first of which being Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Landis discussed his scrapped script with Screen Junkies:

“My Space Mountain movie was cool. It was a ’50s retro future movie. They had rocket ships and ray guns but no cell phones and internet.”

Landis goes on to explain that the rocket ships that traveled faster than light were on roller coaster tracks, connecting the film to the ride. And this is where Landis’ script got seriously dark:

“Another cool thing was the idea that when you come back from light speed, you’re 9 and a half grams lighter but you seem normal. Then slowly over the course of a day, it turns out that the human soul can’t travel at light speed. So whole ships come back with people with no souls who seem normal but then turn into horrible monsters — no wonder this movie didn’t get made.”

I would actually see that movie. I never thought I’d admit to being jazzed to see a movie based on Space Mountain, but that sounds pretty cool, indeed… and twisted. Yet, in a world where Disney owns Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars, I can see why Disney would not be so keen on this project. Likewise, I’m not sure they would want a film that suggests one of their most popular rides could turn guests into soulless monsters. It’s not good for the brand!

Since the interview, Landis also shared some concept art from the film on his twitter account, which looks remarkably not dark, compared to the plot he concocted.

https://twitter.com/Uptomyknees/status/912138969021743104

Would you have seen a Space Mountain film based on this premise? Or are you against all films based on rides no matter what the premise? Let us know in the comment section below!

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SOURCE: Screen Junkies (via /Film)

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