Scarlett Johansson Gives Update On “Tower Of Terror” Movie
Following the success of “The Jungle Cruise” and “Pirates Of The Caribbean”, back in 2021, it was revealed that Scarlett Johansson was working on a new live-action movie based on the iconic Disney theme park attraction, “The Twilight Zone: Tower Of Terror”.
Also working on the project is Jonathan Lia from Scarlett’s production company, These Pictures and Josh Cooley, who has been working on the script.
The attraction is based on the popular television series, which initially aired from 1959 to 1964. It was created, hosted and written by Rod Serling.
The attraction sees guests heading to the infamous Hollywood Tower Hotel, where they find a dusty lobby frozen in time. Suddenly, a television set springs to life and Rod Serling welcomes you on a journey into the Twilight Zone. He reveals that on a gloomy Halloween night in 1939, some hotel patrons were riding the elevator when a violent storm struck the building… and they were never seen again. The hotel closed down and has stood empty ever since.
Guests then enter a rickety, elevator-style lift and then shriek in terror as they’re suddenly propelled up and down the abandoned shaft—unexpectedly dropping and rising—as they hear the sound of cables snapping and metal clanging overhead.
The ride at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios was so popular that versions of the attraction were also built at Disney’s theme parks in California, Paris and Tokyo. However, the one at Disney’s California Adventure was rebranded to Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” a few years ago.
Since the initial reveal of the project, we’ve not heard much about it, although it was thought that the project might have been cancelled following Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit with Disney over the release of “Black Widow” on Disney+ Premiere Access.
During a recent interview with EW to promote her new movie, “Jurassic World: Rebirth”, Scarlett was asked for an update on the upcoming “Tower Of Terror” movie.
“It’s a hard nut to crack. Harder than you think, because the ride itself, there’s some lore to it, but it’s… I don’t want to say thin, but it is, kind of!
She added that the ride’s narrative “doesn’t have so much to dig into” in terms of fleshing it out into a full Hollywood film, and thinks that kind of brief story works for a horror-tinged theme park attraction.
“That’s part of the mystery of the ride. It’s been a fun project to work on, because it’s a blue sky project. It has also proved to be a hard nut to crack. But, we’ll crack the case of it. It’s taking shape!”
This isn’t the first time Disney has adapted the attraction into a movie, as back in 1997, Walt Disney Television produced a TV film starring Steven Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst. However, unfortunately, that movie isn’t available to stream on Disney+ or any other platform.
Roger’s Take: With it being over four years since the project was revealed, it does seem like the movie hasn’t moved that far forward in terms of development. You’d have thought the script was done before they announced the project, which seems like a problem Disney finds itself with too often. I’ve always been surprised that Disney wanted to do a film on the attraction, since its one of the few rides built on a franchise it doesn’t own.
Do you think Disney will make a “Tower Of Terror” movie? Let me know on social media!
