Nine years ago today, the movie #Tomorrowland was released. It flopped at the box office, mostly because of Disney indifference. The suits dropped all marketing just before the film came out because they convinced themselves it was going to be a flop. And so it was.
Nonetheless, "Tomorrowland" blew my mind. In a toxic world, someone was preaching optimism! (1/x)
The Disney suits edited the director's version to add George Clooney wrap-arounds explaining the story. But ...
A Disneyphile befriended the producers, obtained the original script, and edited it back to the original vision, restoring the deleted scenes where he could.
It's out there for HD download, if you know where to look. 😉
(2/x)
The movie strongly implies that the secret society is at #KSC building a better tomorrow. It inspired some of us to start our own little chapter with a #NASA version of the "T" pin, which you'll see in our recruitment film.
(This was before Elon turned evil ... Which the antagonist does in the movie ...)
(3/3)
#Tomorrowland Times has posted on YouTube an interview with Clint Schultz, who designed the iconic T-pin for the movie. Lots of behind the scenes stories about the film's production.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the #Tomorrowland movie release ... The film ends at #KSC, implying +U has restarted here. That scene inspired us to create a secret chapter at #KSCVC. You wore the #NASA variant T-pin (second pin below) as a wink.
We said nothing unless a guest spotted it and asked what it was. If you knew, you knew.
The movie's fans got it. Children thought it was real! I had children point and gasp. For the right "dreamer" I'd hand them the pin and say, "You're recruited."
The #Tomorrowland #NASA #KSC T-pin went through several variants. A friend in SoCal who had befriended the producers and graphic designer was making limited-design T-pin variants. I suggested a NASA variant and chipped in to cover the cost.
The final version got to the right NASA blue, but mixed in glitter so that it sparkled in the Florida sunshine.
I mentioned that children thought the #Tomorrowland #NASA #KSC T-pin was real. One example ...
I was escorting a group through an exhibit. One family was the parents with a seven-year old girl. I heard her whispering to her mom, pointing at my pin.
I kneeled down to let her touch the pin and said, "I'm not the only one. If you keep your eyes open, you might see more."
When we got to the other side of the curtain, a supervisor was there, wearing the pin.
The girl gasped, totally bought it.
For all my years lecturing at #KSCVC, my fondest memories were the times I destroyed impressionable young minds. 🤣
Why did #Tomorrowland flop?
Disney did a terrible marking campaign. Long story. Confusing trailers, then pulled the marketing a week before release to save money.
The studio suits ordered reshoots with Clooney explaining everything in retrospect. That made it worse. They thought the audience needed to see Clooney first and not wait for an hour.
The studio downplayed Walt's role in +U. The deleted scenes leaned into Disneyland being a recruiting cover. That was all taken out. (1/x)
Disney also pulled all the merchandise and the T-pin logos from the parks. Six months after the movie's release, I couldn't find one #Tomorrowland-related item of merchandise in WDW's Tomorrowland.
The movie isn't available on Disney+. Although it was shot in UHD 4K, a UHD 4K version was never released.
Our Blu-Ray version pops with visual and audio goodness. One can only imagine what a UHD 4K version would be like. (2/x)
Six weeks before the movie came out, a prequel novel was released, "Before #Tomorrowland." You can still find it on Amazon (link below).
That tale takes place in 1939. Many historical figures are in the novel, prominently Nikola Tesla and Amelia Earhart (who didn't die in the Pacific; that was a +U experiment gone wrong.)
It's a fun and light read, in the style of an old young adult novel. It adds a lot to the +U universe. (3/x)
https://www.amazon.com/Before-Tomorrowland-Jeff-Jensen/dp/1484704215/
The #Tomorrowland creators had fleshed out an incredible universe, with history that went back to the late 19th Century, and had plans for much more. But Disney killed it all.
I started work on a fanfic sequel to "Before Tomorrowland," posted it online, but no one was reading it. I ran with the notion of all these brilliant minds playing God and the consequences. It was to show what was possible with the universe. (4/x)
I always thought the spiritual home for the +U universe was EPCOT, at least the original version.
For years, when you exited the Spaceship Earth attraction, you walked into "Project Tomorrow," which fit perfectly with the notion of the park as a recruiting depot. It even had a mural that looked much like the movie Tomorrowland's landscape. But, again, Disney ran away from the wink.
We created a recruitment film as a gag. It's still online. (5/5)
When David Nix gave this speech, I thought of a line from another Brad Bird film -- "You got me monologuing!"
This was the moment in the #Tomorrowland movie when you realize the antagonist actually has a point. The best villains are the ones convinced of their righteousness. (1/x)
The friend who deep-dove into #Tomorrowland production created this gag trailer for "ToxiCosmos 3" ... If you watch carefully, throughout the movie there are billboards and whatnot promoting an upcoming disaster film. Brad Bird was mocking all the apocalypse movies coming out at the time. "Tomorrowland" is the optimistic message. "ToxiCosmos 3" is the antithesis. (2/x)
The #Tomorrowland crew filmed a gag reel showing David Nix doing a pilot for a new Disney show on NBC, "The World of Tomorrow Science Hour." It wasn't used in the movie, but it was on the DVD.
If you pay closely, there are LOTS of easter eggs in this five-minute clip.
Clearly, Nix doesn't do well with children. (4/4)
For me, David Nix is the crux of #Tomorrowland. But we never really get his back story.
My fanfic was to explain his origin. As I deep-dove into reserach, I found a lot of my suppositions aligned quite nicely with what the producers established in the movie and the prequel novel.
"Tomorrowland Down" starts a year after the prequel novel. You can download the PDF if interested. (3/x)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QqeSgzjmlaTY8NnfkLgshqAr1laRxhR2/view