‘Tower of Terror’ Movie Reboot Planned at Disney

However, they’re throwing one more into the development mix, although it’s a theme park ride that they’ve actually previously turned into a film: Tower of Terror.

The theme park ride combines footage and narration by what sounds like the late Rod Serling doing a Twilight Zone episode, with a jaw-dropping elevator vehicle that falls precipitously, and climbs back up. Also, I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Haunted Mansion movie, which is another of my favorite rides (although I trust del Toro for that remake). The idea to turn it into a movie was pitched to Disney after John August (Big Fish) and Jim Whitaker hatched a few story ideas based on the theme park attraction.

When Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean became a behemoth franchise, folks braced themselves for a flurry of theme park ride adaptations from the Mouse House. As you prepare for the ride, you get the story of a family going on the hotel elevator and disappearing after it gets hit by lightning.

Tower of Terror was originally built at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios (then MGM), and featured several elements that pushed riders into a world of that blurred the edge of reality…a fifth dimension. Which isn’t exactly a surprise considering the first movie, which starred Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst, wasn’t Twilight Zone either. What do you think about a new Tower of Terror?