Space Mountain Movie Lands Infamous Netflix Sci-Fi Anime Adaptation Showrunners
The upcoming Space Mountain movie will have several names familiar to sci-fi and anime fans attached to it as it goes into production. The live-action Disney film will be produced by Jonathan Eirich, who worked to bring the Netflix series Avatar: The Last Airbender to the streaming service. Additionally, Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, the duo behind the latter company’s adaptation of Cowboy Bebop and the Amazon series Citadel, have been tapped to pen the screenplay for the film.
Space Mountain
Space Mountain is an indoor roller coaster that has been a mainstay at Disney World in Orlando since 1975. Its popularity led to developers opening a version of the ride in Disney Land two years later. But Tomorrowland wasn’t the last stop for Space Mountain, as Disney eventually installed the popular attraction in three additional theme parks around the globe.
The Film
What the Space Mountain movie has in store for movie audiences is being kept tightly under wraps at the moment, as details surrounding the plot haven’t been publicly released. But with the news that Nemec and Appelbaum will be forging the script, fans are buzzing online about the possibilities the writing team’s imagination can do with the concept.
Taking elements from Space Mountain’s roller coaster and transforming it into a film might not be the easiest task. Other Disney rides that have been vaulted onto theater screens at least had characters and/concepts that could be more easily translatable to a screenplay. But with the creative minds of Nemec and Appelbaum in charge of the screenplay, the expectations are high.
Disney Has Made Bank On Other Park Ride Films
Space Mountain is certainly not the only Disney theme park ride to get its own film adaptation. The 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a monstrous success at the box office, making over $650 million at the box office. Four sequels followed, with a sixth Pirates film in the works as a reboot. The film series has total worldwide box office grosses of more than $4.5 billion, making it one of the most successful franchises in history.
There have been a surprising number of other Disney rides and attractions to be adapted into films aside from the Pirates entries. The Haunted Mansion (2003) and its 2023 reboot were both based on the popular ride of the same name. The Tower of Terror (1997), Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (1997), The Country Bears (2002), and Jungle Cruise (2021) were also ride-to-theater projects that experienced mixed box office successes and critical responses.
No Release Date
No release date has been set for the Space Mountain film. Aside from Nemec and Appelbaum as screenwriters and Eirich on board as a producer, the project will feature Safehouse Pictures alum Joby Harold and Tory Runnell as co-producers and Ryan Halprin as executive producer. No director has been named yet, and the cast has also not been announced.
The Writing Duo’s Other Work
Nemec and Appelbaum have other projects under their belts as a team that show they have the chops to make a great theatrical production. The two also worked together on the 2011 film Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016).
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
