Scarlett Johansson to Star in ‘Tower of Terror’ Movie
Picture if you will, a theme-park attraction so memorably scary, so terribly entertaining, that a motion picture company would attempt to turn it into a movie not once, but twice. This is not some imaginary scenario. This is a very real sequence of events, playing out in a world very much like our own. The only difference: This world is located in one of the more commercialized corners of ... the Twilight Zone.
That’s the spot for the construction of a new Tower of Terror, based on the popular Disney theme park rides. Collider reports that the company is working with Scarlett Johansson on the project. The Marvel actor is expected to produce and star in the film, which is currently being written by Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley.
If you’ve never had the pleasure, the Tower of Terror remains one of Disney’s most impressive rides. The original one opened in 1994 at Walt Disney World in Florida; copies subsequently followed at Disneyland in California, Tokyo, and France. The first ride and most of the other versions are inspired by the anthology TV series The Twilight Zone, and structured as if the guest has somehow fallen (quite literally) into a forgotten episode of the show.
Johansson’s project will not be the first Tower of Terror film. Disney previously attempted to cash in on the popularity of the ride with a TV movie of Tower of Terror loosely inspired by its storyline about a group of guests who vanished into thin air after riding the elevator at the fictional “Hollywood Tower Hotel.” Steve Guttenberg and a young Kirsten Dunst starred in the film, which holds the distinction of being the very first Disney production based on one of the company’s theme park attractions.
The new version, we suspect, will have slightly higher production values.