Brad Bird's Tomorrowland - May 22, 2015

[Akijama]

After gallivanting about outer space in Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, George Clooney will (possibly) see outer space coming to him in Brad Bird‘s 1952. The star has just entered negotiations for the sci-fi tentpole, which is set up at Disney. The script comes from Jeff Jensen and Damon Lindelof, and has drawn comparisons to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. More details after the jump.

Considering who’s involved, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that plot details are being kept under very tight wraps. Vulture got word earlier this fall that the film followed a “Roy Neary-like protagonist,” but said that it was not about an alien encounter as had been previously reported. Variety‘s latest update, on the other hand, indicates that 1952 is indeed about alien contact.

So basically, no one knows anything for certain. But many are speculating that there will be an outer space connection of some sort. 1952 is a big year in alien lore, as that’s when Project Blue Book started and the Washington D.C. UFO incident took place.

What we do know is that Disney is envisioning the project as a large-scale tentpole with “multi-platform aspirations.” It received a flurry of attention last week when a theory got around that 1952 was a code name for Star Wars VII, but that rumor has since been debunked.

A start date has not been announced, and Variety‘s sources stress that 1952 has not yet received an official greenlight, much less started locking down its cast. Assuming it moves ahead, however, it will be Bird’s next directorial effort and his second live-action movie after Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

It’s difficult to gauge Clooney’s suitability for the role without knowing more about it, but his involvement seems like a good sign for the movie in general. Clooney’s an acclaimed A-lister who’s reasonably choosy about his projects, so there must be something about 1952 that intrigues him. Or so we hope. Clooney’s next set to direct and star in Monuments Men, about art historians protecting treasured artworks from the Nazis during World War II.

http://www.slashfilm.com/george-cloo...-project-1952/

[legendarymatt92]

Definitely sounds like a project I'd be interested in. I loved Brad Bird's live-action début (as well as all his animation releases) and his visual style is superb...well suited for a film set in space.

George Clooney really likes his science fiction space adventures, too; between this, Gravity and Solaris, it seems to be a role he goes for (that's if he signs on for this!)

[Buddy Ackerman]

Back in October The Playlist posted this about the film:

As for that title, the story goes that when Lindelof went to Disney last year to pitch the movie, he was allowed access to some stuff in the archives, including a box from WED Enterprises, Walt Disney's personal development lab (which later became the Imagineering section of the company). Anyway, there was a box labelled "That Darn Cat!" that had been crossed off and written "1952," and inside was a bunch of material for a proposed movie about alien contact. Huh. So are Lindelof and Bird finishing a lost Walt Disney movie? Did Lindelof change his pitch after digging through that box? Is that anecdote just part of a larger myth being built around the movie?

Brad Bird has just posted a picture of that box, via Twitter. I've still no idea what any of it means but there must be clues there for those who can figure this sort of thing out.



Ain't It Cool has posted a coule of theories about what it all means but, apart from the minor connection of Buck Rogers, I don't think I buy any of it. The creation of Disneyland and Steamboat Willy don't scream sci-fi or "multi-platform franchise", nor does a biopic on Disney but, to be fair to AICN, they debunk that themselves at the bottom of the piece after being reminded that Disney already has one of thos in the works.

[EricJ]

So basically, no one knows anything for certain. But many are speculating that there will be an outer space connection of some sort. 1952 is a big year in alien lore, as that’s when Project Blue Book started and the Washington D.C. UFO incident took place.

That's the best theory I've heard:
Project Blue Book was sort of the Air Force's own proto-Men In Black program, investigating every UFO report, except, of course....they never found anything. ("Or did they?")
Clooney can only play either a business exec or an officer, so it fits in neatly to guess the latter.

As for Disney's UFO movie, I'm guessing most of that was absorbed years later into "Moon Pilot", and we would've been better off getting what was in the box.

[Walts Ghost]

JUST ANNOUNCED: "1952" movie will be called "Tomorrowland." Check D23 website for more details soon!

D23 Twitter

[EricJ]

JUST ANNOUNCED: "1952" movie will be called "Tomorrowland." Check D23 website for more details soon!

Dang, I was just about to predict that.
Seemed like Walt had Tomorrowland at the park all lined up to tie in with a big 50's movie project that never came about, and all we got was a half-dozen TV episodes and then the TV/park connection was forgotten.

Either it's A) an archival Walt idea that Brad wants to do retro, B) fantasy thereupon, or C)(as Harry Knowles grasped at straws), could be more bio examination of Walt's forward-thinking style. And hopefully less screenwriter-corny as Tom Hanks' movie, but given Bird's Incredibles-retro sensibilities, I'm thinking a nice Joe Johnston-y B).

(Although with the craze for Walt/retro-Disneyland projects, I keep wondering whether anyone will ever resurrect the "Kruschev at Disneyland" movie Walt wanted to make at one point.)

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Dang, I was just about to predict that.
Seemed like Walt had Tomorrowland at the park all lined up to tie in with a big 50's movie project that never came about, and all we got was a half-dozen TV episodes and then the TV/park connection was forgotten.

Either it's A) an archival Walt idea that Brad wants to do retro, B) fantasy thereupon, or C)(as Harry Knowles grasped at straws), could be more bio examination of Walt's forward-thinking style. And hopefully less screenwriter-corny as Tom Hanks' movie, but given Bird's Incredibles-retro sensibilities, I'm thinking a nice Joe Johnston-y B).

(Although with the craze for Walt/retro-Disneyland projects, I keep wondering whether anyone will ever resurrect the "Kruschev at Disneyland" movie Walt wanted to make at one point.)

Very well thought out, EricJ, and I agree with what you've come up. I think it's definitely going to be the Joe Johnston-like B.

[fgomike]

This is sounding more and more interesting all the time.

[Walts Ghost]

Hugh Laurie in Talks for Villain Role in Clooney's 'Tomorrowland' (Exclusive)

Hugh Laurie is in negotiations to play the villain in Tomorrowland, Disney’s top secret sci-fi project starring George Clooney and being directed by Brad Bird.

The plot of the movie project, which was until a couple of weeks ago being called 1952, is under lock and key, though it has been described as being in the vein of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg’s 1978 movie about a man searching for extra-terrestrials on Earth.

All that is known about Laurie’s character is that he serves as the movie’s antagonist.

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof co-wrote the script with Jeff Jensen, an editor at Entertainment Weekly.

The pedigree of Bird and Lindelof, their standing in the geek community, and the forcefield of secrecy enveloping the project, have raised interest in Tomorrowland.

Laurie is best known for starring as the brilliant but cold title character in Fox's House M.D. which ran from 2004 to 2012. The show kept him busy but he did find time to appear in the ensemble drama The Oranges and to lend his voice to animated fare such as Arthur Christmas and Monster vs. Aliens.

Source

Can I buy a ticket already?

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

Source

Can I buy a ticket already?

Ummm, no.

[Ernest Rister]

Jim Hill Media wrong again, it appears...the film has nothing to do with Ward Kimball or his enthusiasm for making a UFO doc for Walt's Disneyland TV show.

Jim Hill wrong? I know, what a shock. This is the guy who called CARS a flop and ranted for weeks that Disney overpaid for PIXAR (and tried to argue Rataouille and Wall*E were flops), and now California Adventure is a serious contendor for admissions rivaling the park across the courtyard, thanks to the Carsland and Toy Story attractions.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Jim Hill Media wrong again, it appears...the film has nothing to do with Ward Kimball or his enthusiasm for making a UFO doc for Walt's Disneyland TV show.

At this point, Jim basically uses any headline as a "Sayyy, that reminds me!" excuse for any other old retro history story he can dig up. Not easy keeping a blog daily.

Sounds like it's just going to be a whimsical retro-scifi story--Although the backstory of New Tomorrowland at the parks has Earth being visited by aliens and being denoted a new tourist-station depot city, so there might by some tie-in there.
At this point, even the best can't say.

Jim Hill wrong? I know, what a shock. This is the guy who called CARS a flop and ranted for weeks that Disney overpaid for PIXAR (and tried to argue Rataouille and Wall*E were flops), and now California Adventure is a serious contendor for admissions rivaling the park across the courtyard, thanks to Carsland and the Toy Story attractions.

(Oh yeah: Wasn't just Pixar and the $7.4 BILLION!--I remember that figure because Hill would use it, and the capital letters, three times an article--but his crusade to make sure Iger would rue the day he wasted so much capital trying to salvage California Adventure...Not to mention, all the way back to spending three weeks trying to spin Chicken Little's opening as a "hit", clearly demonstrating that Disney didn't need to buy Pixar!
The fact that he wasn't even a stockholder got to the point that some of us were asking, "So, uh, just OOC, when was that recent divorce of yours, again?")

Oh, I got a history with this guy:
One time, after Disney stuck their feet in their mouths about predicting Cars 1's box-office, and decided not to make any public predictions about Pirates 2, Jim was left without an article, and so had a contest to predict Pirates 2's weekend. Times being what they were, I smelled another one of his Cars-bashing rats. (Ie., if Pirates 2 opened bigger than predicted, "Disney outdoes Pixar!", and if less, "Is this Disney's second flop?")
I posted the possibility of this little bit of Fox-News spin, and Jim harangued me about why I was should think he was "trying to damage Pirates box office?" Yes, that's how he saw it.

Later, when he was trying to throw more scare-tactics about Glen Keane's delays on Tangled, and that Disney might talk to him within the next week about either moving off the project or (dun-dunn! ) appointing a co-director, Jim wrote the article as if the axe had already fallen, causing all the posters to gnash and wail about the chaos at the animation department and the future of traditional animation.
I tried to point out logically that as Disney hadn't talked to Keane yet, any D&G about things that haven't happened yet is called "speculation", and humorously added "Look, they haven't fired anybody yet, Jim was MAKING IT UP!"
Ohh, hush my heretical mouth! For an entire year--I don't exaggerate--Jim was so unnaturally obsessed with this one remark, that the slightest criticisms of the post would have me accused of the most vile conspiracies with trying to "bring down" his site, and met with rages of "Why don't you just get your own website, where you can cry 'Jim's making it up' all day long?" Might I be excused for thinking someone was protesting too much?

[Mahatma]

Will Laurie play an evil doctor with a dart-shooting cane...

[Ernest Rister]

Hopefully.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by EricJ

At this point, Jim basically uses any headline as a "Sayyy, that reminds me!" excuse for any other old retro history story he can dig up. Not easy keeping a blog daily.

Sounds like it's just going to be a whimsical retro-scifi story--Although the backstory of New Tomorrowland at the parks has Earth being visited by aliens and being denoted a new tourist-station depot city, so there might by some tie-in there.
At this point, even the best can't say.



(Oh yeah: Wasn't just Pixar and the $7.4 BILLION!--I remember that figure because Hill would use it, and the capital letters, three times an article--but his crusade to make sure Iger would rue the day he wasted so much capital trying to salvage California Adventure...Not to mention, all the way back to spending three weeks trying to spin Chicken Little's opening as a "hit", clearly demonstrating that Disney didn't need to buy Pixar!
The fact that he wasn't even a stockholder got to the point that some of us were asking, "So, uh, just OOC, when was that recent divorce of yours, again?")

Oh, I got a history with this guy:
One time, after Disney stuck their feet in their mouths about predicting Cars 1's box-office, and decided not to make any public predictions about Pirates 2, Jim was left without an article, and so had a contest to predict Pirates 2's weekend. Times being what they were, I smelled another one of his Cars-bashing rats. (Ie., if Pirates 2 opened bigger than predicted, "Disney outdoes Pixar!", and if less, "Is this Disney's second flop?")
I posted the possibility of this little bit of Fox-News spin, and Jim harangued me about why I was should think he was "trying to damage Pirates box office?" Yes, that's how he saw it.

Later, when he was trying to throw more scare-tactics about Glen Keane's delays on Tangled, and that Disney might talk to him within the next week about either moving off the project or (dun-dunn! ) appointing a co-director, Jim wrote the article as if the axe had already fallen, causing all the posters to gnash and wail about the chaos at the animation department and the future of traditional animation.
I tried to point out logically that as Disney hadn't talked to Keane yet, any D&G about things that haven't happened yet is called "speculation", and humorously added "Look, they haven't fired anybody yet, Jim was MAKING IT UP!"
Ohh, hush my heretical mouth! For an entire year--I don't exaggerate--Jim was so unnaturally obsessed with this one remark, that the slightest criticisms of the post would have me accused of the most vile conspiracies with trying to "bring down" his site, and met with rages of "Why don't you just get your own website, where you can cry 'Jim's making it up' all day long?" Might I be excused for thinking someone was protesting too much?

He's an annoying tool. I pick up the annual release of The Unauthorized Guide to Walt Disney World and Disneyland every year, because it's a fantastic resource, but I get a pit in my stomach everytime they quote Jim Hill, along with that little sketch of him holding binoculars like he's some sort of insider expert letting us in on his knowledge of Disneyland and Disney World "secrets".

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

He's an annoying tool. I pick up the annual release of The Unauthorized Guide to Walt Disney World and Disneyland every year, because it's a fantastic resource, but I get a pit in my stomach everytime they quote Jim Hill, along with that little sketch of him holding binoculars like he's some sort of insider expert letting us in on his knowledge of Disneyland and Disney World "secrets".

Over on the official union board for the Animators Guild, there's a little cadre of "flop cheer squad" of Disney/Pixar under-animators that wants, like deranged Cubs fans in reverse, to see Pixar finally have its first megaflop and kick John Lasseter out on his rear, so they can replace him with someone looser about working schedules, like Jeffrey Katzenberg at Dreamworks. Thus any bad propaganda about Pixar ("Massive fail for Brave! Down goes Lasseter!") or good propaganda about DW is Fox-News'ed to the skies, and everyone groans, oh, them again.
And while we used to kid Jim Hill about his "insiders" that kept mysteriously sounding like his own writing style, now we know who he was the mouthpiece patsy for, naively believing every word of Pixar D&G that got handed to his "private" inbox like a little child whenever he published a "Target cuts back on Cars marketing!--Is this the first step?" post. That's what gullibility will get ya.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Over on the official union board for the Animators Guild, there's a little cadre of "flop cheer squad" of Disney/Pixar under-animators that wants, like deranged Cubs fans in reverse, to see Pixar finally have its first megaflop and kick John Lasseter out on his rear, so they can replace him with someone looser about working schedules, like Jeffrey Katzenberg at Dreamworks. Thus any bad propaganda about Pixar ("Massive fail for Brave! Down goes Lasseter!") or good propaganda about DW is Fox-News'ed to the skies, and everyone groans, oh, them again.
And while we used to kid Jim Hill about his "insiders" that kept mysteriously sounding like his own writing style, now we know who he was the mouthpiece patsy for, naively believing every word of Pixar D&G that got handed to his "private" inbox like a little child whenever he published a "Target cuts back on Cars marketing!--Is this the first step?" post. That's what gullibility will get ya.

He's not a patsy, he's a pimp -- he even turned against Roy Disney and the Save Disney campaign, which was instrumental in forcing Eisner out. He backed the wrong horse, Pixar and Lasseter aren't going anywhere, and tough shit for entrenched Disney interests inside the studio forced to embrace Lasseter's storytelling values and work ethic.

[Akijama]

The plot of Disney's "Tomorrowland," originally named "1952" and starring George Clooney, has been kept under wraps ... until now. Along with the casting of Britt Robertson in a lead role, the studio has revealed a major plotline.

"In the film, a high school girl with an unconventional understanding of technology is launched on a journey to reclaim her future," reads a release from Walt Disney Studios.

Produced and written by Damon Lindelof ("Star Trek," "Prometheus") and Brad Bird ("The Incredibles," "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol"), "Tomorrowland" has been long rumored to be a sci-fi film in the vein of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Some reports claim a "found" synopsis indicate an elaborate plot which teams Clooney's character with remarkable young ladies to face an alternate reality -- Tomorrowland -- and save the earth. Whether the plot points are on target or not remains to be seen, but Disney's latest statement is not too far off the mark.

Robertson currently stars in CBS' "Under the Dome" and can be seen in Disney's "Delivery Man," starring Vince Vaughn and Chris Pratt, in November.

"House M.D." star Hugh Laurie is also slated to star in "Tomorrowland," along with "Mr. Selfridge" star Raffey Cassidy and "The Protector's" Thomas Robinson.

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2013/0...robertson.html

Directed by Brad Bird and written by Bird and Damon Lindelof, this secretive film stars George Clooney as an unspecified inventor. Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, and Thomas Robinson also star, and the “action-packed adventure” hits theaters on December 12, 2014.

[RandyK]

The Disney logo makes it look like an animated movie. Get rid of it.

I'm excited for this. George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, and a Sci Fi plot all = .

[JavaJulien]

Brad Bird? Yes please.