Image Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The working title has been 1952, but the top secret film being developed by Disney is now unveiling its official moniker …
Tomorrowland.
The live-action movie will star George Clooney, and it is being developed by director Brad Bird (Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) and writers Damon Lindelof and Entertainment Weekly’s own Jeff “Doc” Jensen (who has been unable to breathe a word to his colleagues. Damn him).
Last week, Lindelof and Bird began teasing a a revelation, posting images of an archive materials box labeled “1952″ on Twitter. Inside the box, which supposedly provided inspiration for the story, is a copy of the book Model Research: The National Advisory Committee For Aeronautics 1918-1958 by military history professor Alex Roland (published in 1985), and an August 1928 edition of Amazing Stories magazine, featuring a man in a flying suit on the cover — the first appearance of the time-leaping hero Buck Rogers.
There is also what appears to be some sort of 45 record, the nozzle of a small rocket engine, and a scattering of photos of Walt Disney himself.
You can see the full image of the what’s inside the “1952″ box below. (Click for a larger version.)
The previously named 1952 has had people throwing around wild guesses regarding its plot, and the filmmakers are clearly trying to tease that a little longer. Some speculated that it was the working title for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, back when The Walt Disney Co. first acquired Lucasfilm. Others wondered if it had something to do with the creation of Disneyland, which opened in 1955. Disney’s legendary Imagineering division was founded in 1952 to help develop concepts for the park.
It turned out the theme park guess is not that far off. The company has been trying for a decade to create more film projects off of its Disneyland and Walt Disney World properties, sometimes to great success, such as with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and sometimes less so. The Country Bears anyone? Eddie Murphy appeared in 2003′s The Haunted Mansion, and Guillermo del Toro has been at work developing a revamped version of that story — though its status remains uncertain. (As of last August, he said it was still happening.)
Jensen, EW’s point person on all things Lost, began his writing partnership with Lindelof, the co-creator of that series, after it ended in May 2010. In accordance with Time Inc. policy, Jensen continues to report and write about TV and film, excluding those produced by Disney and its affiliates.
The script for this film is being written by Lindelof and Bird, while those two and Jensen share story credit, and Jensen (author of the Eisner-winning graphic novel Green River Killer) will be listed as an executive producer.
Tomorrowland is due in theaters Dec. 19, 2014.