With Halloween Kills’ theatrical release mere days away, it’s not all that surprising director David Gordon Green is ready to announce his next big project. However, with three Halloween movies and a couple of stoner titles under his belt — Your Highness and Pineapple Express — just what type of movie Green’s next film is might come as a bit of a surprise for fans of the off-beat director.
According to Deadline, Green is reportedly teaming up with Disney Studios to direct a Disney+ original movie about Walt Disney’s “journey to building Disneyland, the ‘Happiest Place on Earth.'” The film is set to follow the enterprising animator up to the grand opening of Disneyland on July 17, 1955, and showcase the highs and lows of him creating the only Disney theme he directly supervised the construction of.
Seeing as how closely involved Disney is with the project (and how squeaky clean they like to keep their image), it seems highly unlikely the film will dig into the Disneyland creators “eccentricities” and go more of a comedic, mockumentary-style route with the film, making it a pretty unusual choice for Green. However, after genre-jumping and creating the highest-grossing Halloween movie of all time, this could be a new and exciting challenge for the director. Plus, with 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks still the most recent Walt Disney biopic out there, there’s a lot of untapped potential and Disney stories just waiting to get the silver screen treatment.
Evan Spiliotopoulos, a Disney veteran who’s written on films such as The Jungle Book 2, Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, and the live-action reboot of Beauty and the Beast, is set to write the upcoming film, with Cavalry Media and producer Jason Reed helping to helm the project. Allison Ehrlichman will oversee for Disney Studios, and Cavalry Media’s Dana Brunetti and Matt DelPiano will produce alongside Reed. As of right now, no title, timeline, or cast details have been revealed.
