Captain E.O.-Possible Comeback?

[hrcollectibles]

Very true. However, this is a bit different seeing the controversy with Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Jackson isn't the only person that was featured in a Disney attraction that is no stranger to controversy... Paul Reubens voices Rex on Star Tours and I think he had some controversy in the past as well.. In my humble opinion I think if Disney wanted to pay some sort of Tribute to Michael Jackson release captain Eo on Dvd. Maybe thats what they may do. Have a limited engagement at Disneyland to test the market .. Then bring it to Epcot then release it on DVD

 

[Syntho_Magnetic]

It's pretty hard to believe that today HISTA would be described as "swallows up crowds." If that was true they wouldn't be giving out free fast passes for it to try and trick the tourists to go onto it.

What I came to say. We're not a go every year, but usually every 2-4 years type family, and we've gotten free fast passes to HISTA 3 times (went unused of course). Though in fairness, it does swallow up a lot of unaware first-timers, but at what cost?

We not only don't recommend going to it, we discourage it. If we ever did manage to take my dad's siblings or my mom's they couldn't go on it (one deathly afraid of snakes, the other deathly afraid of rats). Even with some idea going in, no particular rat phobia, I stood on the seat the rest of the show and involuntarily tried to plug that damn tail hole with my shoe. The only reason we went a second (and last) time was we had my ex-girlfriend with us. I noticed a fair amount of the seats were missing their rat tails (thankfully mine as well), evidently a few guests took it upon themselves to "downgrade the special effects" to quote an above post.

IMO, the "Oh honey, I shrunk/detonated/lost/stretched/stuck-in-a-microwave the kid(s)" movies weren't all that phenomenal.

Polarized 3D is polarized 3D. How can the effects be that different? They spent a still unbeaten record of how many millions of $/minute of film on EO? I don't think it's just nostalgia. It's great color, music, dance, message, and even effects.

And to quote an argument when people ask "why make Epcot back to what it was? Shouldn't it move forward?" Well, if what we had before was more in tune with the EPCOT vision and was a better product than what we have now, then yes. Epcot should move forward, but you need a good foundation to do that.

All said, I'll hold my breath too, even for a run at DL. Best case scenario I see is a limited run in DL gets extended due to popular demand, and TDO actually takes notice.

And either way, I say again, please put it on DVD with both the left and right video tracks.

 

[lebeau]

It's pretty hard to believe that today HISTA would be described as "swallows up crowds." If that was true they wouldn't be giving out free fast passes for it to try and trick the tourists to go onto it.

I describe the show as "swallowing up crowds" because that's what it does. It's a show. It's old and dated, but people still go. It holds a lot of people who would otherwise be reducing the capacity of other attractions. It's still popular with a lot of first-timers. And Disney parks are filled with first timers.

Should it be replaced? I think so. But it should be replaced with something new.

I don't understand how you would say it wouldn't create revenue? Are you saying the "casual tourists" are not MJ fans? What about the locals? Sure it’s not as big of a percentage of daily visitors as DL but it’s still a large group of people. Also the huge amounts of international visitors DW brings in. MJ is even bigger in Europe than he is right here in the USA. If they brought back some of the original merchandise this could be pretty big.

Would there be some revenue? Sure. Some. Would it be worth the cost of retrofitting the building and cleaning up the print? Would it be worth closing at attraction that swallows up crowds while this was being done? Would it be worth dissatisfying guests who don't want to see a controversial figure like Jackson in a family-friendly park?

No. Not at Epcot. Maybe at DL where there are a lot of nostalgic locals with annual passes. But not in a park that lives and dies on casual tourists.

As for Eo merchandise, they can sell that without bringing back the attraction. I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone in merchandising is designing a pin right now.

Will it happen in Florida? Honestly I don't think so. DW managers couldn't see a great opportunity if it smacked them in their face. The wild card here is Kodak. If it works in DL and it gets people back into the seats, I see can it happening in Florida for a limited run as well.

There is no great opportunity here. Management may make some bad calls, but they are absolutely right on this one.

There is no way that Kodak is going to demand that Disney let them pay to retrofit a building and restore a print. No matter how many locals flock to see it in DL. Disney and Kodak both understand the difference between the two parks.

 

[lebeau]

Mr. Jackson isn't the only person that was featured in a Disney attraction that is no stranger to controversy... Paul Reubens voices Rex on Star Tours and I think he had some controversy in the past as well.. In my humble opinion I think if Disney wanted to pay some sort of Tribute to Michael Jackson release captain Eo on Dvd. Maybe thats what they may do. Have a limited engagement at Disneyland to test the market .. Then bring it to Epcot then release it on DVD

I will try to be delicate here. You're talking about two extremely different scenerios here.

There is a very big difference between what Paul Reubens did and what Michael Jackson was accused of. And while Jackson was aquitted in a court of law, that doesn't mean the accusations were false. He did settle disputes out of court for ridiculous sums of money. People will always wonder about his relationships with children. And children are very important to the bottom line at WDW.

Also, Reubens did a voice over. Most people don't even realize it's him. It's very obviously Michael Jackson in Captain Eo.

A lot of people (myself included) don't care about the controvery. But a lot of people feel very, very strongly about it. And those people will complain.

I don't think that complaints would keep Disney from brining back Eo if they thought there was a mountain of money involved. But there's not a mountain of money. If anything, it would probably cost more to do it than they would see in increased revenue. Plus, they know going in that they are courting complaints. No one wants those kinds of headaches.

I could see Disney releasing a Captain Eo pin. Maybe a T-shirt if the pin sells well enough. And they should definitely put out the DVD.

 

[bstiles]

Captain EO is not coming back. This is the same company that decided to take the shortcut with SM. Lutz said even if it is considered it will only be for Halloween. With Epcot starting the F&WF they have all they need to draw the crowds in. I highly doubt they would allocate the money to overlay the HISTA with EO when they supposedly are spending half a billion at the MK.

 

[palmage]

Well I say if they have to bring back Captain EO (which I could careless if it came back or not) bring back SSE with Walter Cronkite narration!

Now that would be cool.
I'll hold my tongue with Jacko.....:fork:

 

[Princess Kitty]

I can see this happening only if 1) they decide to show Captain EO at Disneyland and the numbers are good and 2) they refurbish the movie and add more special effects to update it.

I'm not sure whether or not Disney thinks Michael Jackson is too controversial for their parks. People do tend to overlook the bad/bizarre and focus on the good once someone has passed on. There probably is some market for Michael Jackson nostalgia. And, Disney does do things that I'd never think they'd do - like hosting a Princess Diana exhibit at Downtown Disney.

 

[EPCOTPluto]

I still would like to see Captain EO on DVD, with four pairs of 3D glasses.

 

[Figments Friend]

I can see it happening at DL....but they will need to get going on it before the current re-interest in MJ reaches it's crest and crashes.

I would like to see it come back for a short engagement. Definately.

Here's a great pic from the past-

At the Captain Eo Premiere ( in DisneyLand) in 1986. Mick hangs with some of the films co-stars!