I would argue it could fit. The theme at the heart of Animal Kingdom is Man vs. Nature, and Nature always triumphs. Indy vs Snakes, Indy vs Rats, Indy vs Ants... you get the idea. Sure it’s a little bit far-fetched, but so is Avatar.
Regardless, I haven’t heard much as of late on this project. (Or much of it going into Hollywood Studios either) I’ll post more if I hear more.
They can make an Indy land fit AK very easily, I don't see why this is such a big thematic issue for people.
Have Indy chasing after some baddy who is stealing rare dinosaur bits out of some place. Make said baddy some horribly polluting creep (a la a Dirk Pitt nemesis.. secret lair and white Persian cat and all). Have the hunt lead you through exotic untouched locales, where nature is still natural..
So sure, they could shoehorn Indy in by doing a plot such as that - but a plot like that neither does justice to AK or to Indy. Indy is an
archaeologist. An archaeologist isn't one who studies history, but one who studies
human history via human artifacts. Every one of the Indiana Jones movies is about the search for some human artifact that has mystical properties - the Ark of the Covenant, the Sankara Stones, the Holy Grail, and the Crystal Skull. Sure, from a
setting point of view, Indy often visits locales that match some of the locales in Animal Kingdom, but from a
thematic point of view, Indy is not really about anything to do with animals, nature, or man's relationship with nature (all themes of DAK). So being against Indy in DAK for me is twofold - I don't want to ruin DAK's thematic cohesion (and among the parks, it currently has the best cohesion), nor do I want a land based on Indy that doesn't do justice to the thematic elements of the Indiana Jones franchise.
Yup. And Galaxy's Edge, Indiana Jones, and Toy Story Land have absolutely nothing to do with a real or an imagined Hollywood nor filmmaking or studios. The Studios park has become the generic IP dumping ground and has lost almost all of it's charm and identity.
it is becoming a place where you don't watch a movie. Or experience a movie. Or "walk into a movie" as other parks have claimed. But a place you participate in the movies magically. Because that is what people want.
I'm not saying it isn't a popular idea.
I'm just saying that it doesn't fit the old theme. And a new theme hasn't been set up. And "go inside movies" isn't a theme. And even if "participating in movies" is the theme, then Galaxy's Edge doesn't fit that theme because it is a new planet with new stories and isn't an adaptation of any Star Wars movie.
So, saying that just about anything "fits the theme" of Hollywood Studios is funny to me because 95 percent of the time they are just talking about random IPs that have nothing to do with Hollywood or filmmaking and just "fit the theme" because there is no theme anymore.
That's not the newly stated theme of Hollywood Studios. The newly stated theme is "a place where imagined worlds of Hollywood unfold...from movies and music, to television and theater.”
So it's not about immersing people in the movies, but about immersing people in the
worlds created by the movies. That's where both Galaxy's Edge and TSL fit in - neither is immersing you into any particular movie setting from Star Wars or Toy Story. But both create settings that are within the worlds of each of those movies. Now, for an Indy mini-land to be successful in this new theme, it has to be more than just a couple of Indy attractions. The Indy mini-land has to evoke settings that one could find oneself in in an Indy movie, even if it's not one exact setting from one particular Indy movie.
