With Disney already developing a movie adaptation based on theirtheme parkattractionJungle Cruise, the studio is also moving forward with another theme park-based movie,Tower of Terror.Deadlinereports that the studio is currently seeking screenwriters, who will write the script based on a treatment byJohn August. BothJohn Augustand producerJim Whitakertook their idea to Disney, and the studio sparked to their take.
The attraction opened at DisneyWorld’s Hollywood Studios in 1994, which is based on theanthologyseriesThe Twilight Zone. The attraction is set at the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel, where visitors step inside an elevator, where they’re told stories about several people who have disappeared in that very same elevator over the years. Themovie adaptationwill follow a group of five people, who enter an elevator in a posh hotel. They all disappear after the hotel is struck by lightning.The Twilight Zoneangle won’t be explored in the movie.
The theme park attraction was previously adapted into a 1997TV moviedubbed Tower of Terror. The movie starredSteve Guttenberg,Kirsten Dunst, Nia Peeples, Michael McShane and Melora Hardin. Several scenes of the TV movie were shot at the actual attraction, but it isn’t clear if Disney plans on shooting this movie at the original attraction.
After opening in Disneyworld,Tower of Terrorexpanded to Disney California Adventure, Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris. Disney’s recentsci-fifantasy movieTomorrowlandis loosely based on the DisneyWorld attraction of the same name, and the studio also turned one ride into a blockbuster movie franchise, withPirates of the Caribbean. The studio just wrapped production on the fifth adventure,Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which hits theaters in the summer of 2017.
John Augustis best known for writing severalTim Burtonmovies, such asBig Fish,Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride,Dark Shadows, andFrankenweenie. His other writing credits include Go,Charlie’s Angels,Charlie’s Angels: Full ThrottleandThe Nines, which served as his directorial debut. Are you excited to see aTower of Terrormovie hit the big screen?
