Disney Parks attractions based on 20th Century Studios properties

[Elijah Abrams]

With The Walt Disney Company having acquired 20th Century Fox... er, I mean, 20th Century Studios, which attractions based on their films/TV shows would you want to have at Disney Parks around the world, besides Pandora: The World of Avatar? My ideas, for Walt Disney World, include:

At Disney's Hollywood Studios:
- An Alvin and the Chipmunks live stage show, where Cast Members are dressed in Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Jeanette, Brittany, and Elanor costumes, and sing Chipmunk versions of real-life songs. Some of the songs would also be Witch Doctor, as well as the 1980s Alvin and the Chipmunks theme song.
- A live stage musical show based on the 1997 Don Bluth film Anastasia, which would replace the dated Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.

At Disney's Animal Kingdom:
- An Ice Age ride using the same system as "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure". This also includes a revision to DinoLand U.S.A., where it is renamed to what I call "Prehistoricville U.S.A.", which celebrates not just dinosaurs, but also prehistoric mammals, especially the characters from the "Ice Age" animated films. Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama is also replaced with an Ice Age-themed area.
- An Enchanted Tiki Room-style Audio-Animatronic show based on the animated film "Rio". The characters, some made for the attraction and some from said film, along with its sequel, would sing Samba-style songs, as well as songs from said "Rio" films.

 

[BrianL]

They definitely need to incorporate Anastasia - that movie is as good as any Disney Princess movie for sure! Otherwise, Fox didn't have a ton of properties that mesh well with Disney. They already did Avatar and of course Star Wars before that. I guess they could bring back the Extra Terror-estrial encounter which was practically based on the Alien franchise, but I don't see that one happening.

 

[NotUrsula]

I don't think any of TCF's animated films other than the Ice Age series is iconic enough to sustain a kids attraction; they have been out of the kiddie movie business for far too long. (A :"cold" playground at DAK might be fun, though.) Anastasia is way too obscure.

Obviously, other than the marquee titles Disney already has capitalized on (Avatar and SW), the best bet film-based property they might have gained for theme parks is the X-Men franchise, but that was partly held back from the deal because of Universal's purchase of the Marvel theme-park rights 20-some years ago. (Disney can use them at DLR & overseas, but not WDW.)

Beyond that, I'd guess that the money properties for ride development are the video games (Disney sold the Fox game-development division to Scopely, but I'd bet quite a lot that they held onto the rights for theme-park attractions based on the games.)

 

[BrianL]

I don't think any of TCF's animated films other than the Ice Age series is iconic enough to sustain a kids attraction; they have been out of the kiddie movie business for far too long. (A :"cold" playground at DAK might be fun, though.) Anastasia is way too obscure.

Anastasia has surged in popularity thanks to the recent stage musical. It's definitely something Disney could promote, though I don't know about a full ride.

Fox has released a lot of family fare under Blue Sky Studios though Ice Age is the stand-out. They also did Ferdinand the Bull a couple of years ago, which is kind of cool because Disney did a short based on it in 1938! Anyway, Fox did have family stuff pretty consistently with Blue Sky and more to come. Personally though, I think Blue Sky's output can be bland and plays too much in the same area as Pixar. I think Disney should focus them into a differentiated area.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

They should turn Tower of Terror into Nakatomi Plaza from Die Hard.

 

[bcla]

They definitely need to incorporate Anastasia - that movie is as good as any Disney Princess movie for sure! Otherwise, Fox didn't have a ton of properties that mesh well with Disney. They already did Avatar and of course Star Wars before that. I guess they could bring back the Extra Terror-estrial encounter which was practically based on the Alien franchise, but I don't see that one happening.

Lucasfilm maintained all the rights for Star Wars, so it probably wasn't a property that Fox could license out. Remember there was talk about Lucas going to a different distributor for Episodes I/II/III. I heard Disney also expunged the 20th Century Fox intro from most of the video re-releases (save Episode IV). A shame because John Williams intentionally incorporated it into his intro music. I think with Avatar that Disney was paying a license to James Cameron's production company and Fox. Not quite sure how Disney's purchase affects that agreement.

However, I don't really see the acquisition of movie properties as anything that would really provide anything theme park worthy.

What might be interesting is that Disney bought the 20th Century Fox Television production studio too. Even though many of their shows are still on the Fox network, they might still have the rights to use the properties. Maybe a Family Guy experience?

 

[BrianL]

Lucasfilm maintained all the rights for Star Wars, so it probably wasn't a property that Fox could license out. Remember there was talk about Lucas going to a different distributor for Episodes I/II/III. I heard Disney also expunged the 20th Century Fox intro from most of the video re-releases (save Episode IV). A shame because John Williams intentionally incorporated it into his intro music. I think with Avatar that Disney was paying a license to James Cameron's production company and Fox. Not quite sure how Disney's purchase affects that agreement.

However, I don't really see the acquisition of movie properties as anything that would really provide anything theme park worthy.

What might be interesting is that Disney bought the 20th Century Fox Television production studio too. Even though many of their shows are still on the Fox network, they might still have the rights to use the properties. Maybe a Family Guy experience?

You're right about Star Wars. I think Avatar is similar in that James Cameron/Lightstorm may own it, but Fox had distribution rights. It's just some random musings.

For TV properties, I don't know that Family Guy really fits into the Disney Parks mold - it's a bit risque. The Simpsons might, but I bet that's tied up with a Universal Deal like Marvel is.

 

[Buckeye218]

They should turn Tower of Terror into Nakatomi Plaza from Die Hard.

"Yippee-ki-aaayyy Mickey Mouse-a"

 

[bcla]

You're right about Star Wars. I think Avatar is similar in that James Cameron/Lightstorm may own it, but Fox had distribution rights. It's just some random musings.

For TV properties, I don't know that Family Guy really fits into the Disney Parks mold - it's a bit risque. The Simpsons might, but I bet that's tied up with a Universal Deal like Marvel is.

I checked on Avatar, and Disney had to license it from both Cameron's production house and Fox. As for Star Wars, George Lucas insisted on not signing away any licensing or merchandising rights to Fox as the distributor as would be standard. Fox was a bit wary because they lost money on licensing before, but they still offered Lucas a guaranteed licensing deal. Many thought Lucas was crazy for not taking the sure money, but that paid off rather quickly, and extremely well in the long run. Also - Lucasfilm retained 100% of the rights to any sequels, which is probably why the Fox intro could be removed. They were just a movie distributor. Personally I would suggest that now that Disney owns the studio they should put it back because John Williams intentionally integrated the Fox fanfare into the Star Wars theme. He wanted it in there even though Fox didn't always use it any more.

Yep. The Simpsons is already being used. However, Disney is trying to use as much Marvel stuff as possible without running into the issue with that Universal license. They have some characters from Big Hero 6, Avengers, and of course the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. I was just thinking of what might be interesting.

 

[Colleen27]

I think they need a Rocky Horror Picture Show dinner show/character meal. Frank would make a great Disney princess!

In all seriousness, I don't think any of the 20th CF animated content except perhaps Anastasia is up to Disney standards, and I personally would be disappointed at seeing the lower end animation franchises represented in the parks. But I also don't think there's much risk of that. I suspect the acquisition was strictly about getting hold of the rights to the rest of the Marvel world, and that isn't likely to have any impact at WDW because of the Universal Studios contract. It should make for a greatly expanded MCU, though, and I'm looking forward to that!

 

[mom2rtk]

Until the Aristocats and Pocahontas and a few other Disney Classics have their own attractions 20th Century Fox can just wait in line.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

In a follow-up to my idea for a "Rio"-themed Audio-Animatronic attraction in Animal Kingdom, I also thought up a new area in the park, themed after the Amazon rainforest in South America. The area would have said Rio attraction, but also a walkthrough attraction with living animals, much like the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and the Maharajah Jungle Trek, from South America like jaguars, bats, capybaras, monkeys, and tropical birds. There would also be a full-service steakhouse restaurant serving Brazilian churrasco, one of my favorite delicacies!

 

[BrianL]

I think that would be the best way to incorporate any of those properties - to come up with an area first, then place things where they fit. If they did add South America to AK, Rio would be a good fit there. I don't know how popular that property is, but there was a sequel, so at least that popular.