Today is supposed to be the start day for "The Hobbit" film(s)...
Warner Bros. production of the classic novel that gave birth to "The Lord of the Ring" should be lensing down in New Zealand as we speak. As someone that absolutely loved the books, the films and everything else about them, I can't wait to see Part One in December of 2012.
And now, if Disney would just license the films they can capitalize on mania that will happen over the new few years by putting a nice attraction in Disney's Hollywood Studios (just as the Second Part ends, what a coincidence that would be). It might even give them a reason to move that Sorcerer's Hat.
I know the Mouse has wanted their own LOTR, but Narnia sadly, wasn't it...
6 comments:
Universal recently conducted a survey about LOTR a few months back. I'd like to see them capitalize on the franchise. Seeing as how Disney has never made a Star Wars ride that's lived up to its potential, I doubt they'd commit to a fully immersive LOTR experience.
A LOTR \ Hobbit ride would really have to be a BIG - big E-ticket.
Star Tours as a simulator works in the context of it being science fiction and you are travelling in a ship.
That obviously don't work in a medieval fantasy world, so it'd be interesting to see how a ride would work - what kind of vehicle am I in??
Besides which - for a big E-ticket - where in DHS does this fit?
Gahh!! If only.
Well, some would say that in spite of Narnia 1's success, Disney didn't feel the need to really put the "heart" (or at least, a decent marketing campaign) into Narnia 2 because they already had their LotR-scale hit to exploit: Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Narnia material was acquired before PotC was a success and the general opinion was that it would go the way of any of the other ride->film tie-ins (Tower of Terror and Country Bears).
Verbinski and Depp had other ideas...
Narnia 3 did pretty good box office. It exceeded Narnia 2. It was more of a hit in the overseas market. There could be another sequel.
Disney lost out of Narnia, but certainly, they could put it in their theme parks based on the first 2 movies.
Disney's cold feet is the problem. They don't seem to understand live action movies.
If Disney does get the theme park rights to LOTR, they should build a whole park around it (like Universal did with Harry Potter), not just a ride or two. This would be perfect for the third gate in Anaheim or maybe as part of the International West project in Garden Grove.
Disney blew it with Narnia. Blew it completely. If it had invested more of its own talents into the franchise - instead of relying on Walden Media's bland, tepid approach to fantasy films - the Narnia movies would have been stronger and more successful. Frankly, I've always thought the Narnia books needed to be animated, not live-action blended with CGI. But heaven forbid that today's Disney actually take a risk, or be able to appreciate the magic of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles. The religious aspects just scare the crap out of the Disney suits. Narnia could have been Disney's answer to Potter - and now Diz has no answer at all. Screwups.
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