Club 33 movie is among seven Disney park films in the works

Club 33 Movie in Development

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) broke the news, sharing that the Club 33 movie’s story will take place in New York City in present day, and will follow a young detective attempting to solve a murder. Club 33 itself will be presented as “a magical and exclusive dining club that exists outside of time and space,” its members being “the greatest and most iconic members from the past: geniuses, royalty, and history-makers.”

In real life, Club 33 is a private restaurant inside Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Calif., its patrons being “VIPs and their guests” (according to D23), as well as approved members of an application and waitlist process (as detailed by planDisney). Since Club 33’s opening at Disneyland in 1967, the club has established locations at other Disney parks worldwide.

The Club 33 movie is in the development stage, THR said, from a script written by Darren Lemke. Production company 21 Laps Entertainment — with producers Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, and Dan Cohen, as well as executive Emily Morris — will bring the film to the screen. No director was mentioned.

Lemke previously wrote “Shrek Forever After,” “Goosebumps,” “Shazam!,” and the recent “Kung Fu Panda 4,” among other films. 21 Laps’ other productions include several Levy-directed films, including “Night at the Museum” and the upcoming “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The company also produces “Stranger Things” with Netflix. THR noted that the Club 33 movie will feel similar in tone to “Night at the Museum” and “Clue.”

Club 33 is the latest in a long list of Disney theme park attractions and experiences developed into movies, following Pirates of the Caribbean and Country Bear Jamboree in the 2000s, Jungle Cruise in more recent memory, and Haunted Mansion adaptations in various eras.

New “Pirates of the Caribbean” Movies

Earlier this week, producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed to Entertainment Weekly the ongoing development of two separate “Pirates of the Caribbean” film extensions (both of which had been previously discussed publicly, but a status report is always welcome). One will star Margot Robbie, while the other will reboot the franchise altogether. How closely either film will connect to previous installments — the last of which, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” debuted in 2017 — remains to be seen.

Pirates of the Caribbean first opened at Disneyland in 1967, and was thereafter adapted at every Disney theme park destination globally.

Tower of Terror Movie with Scarlett Johansson

A movie based on Tower of Terror is also on the way, with Scarlett Johansson starring and producing. Collider first reported the project’s existence in 2021, and the movie was still on track as of Johansson’s November 2023 appearance on “The Today Show.” During that interview, conducted shortly after the end of the writers strike, Johansson said her team was ready to “dive back into polishing up the script.” She added, “It’s a massive, huge undertaking, but I’m a huge Disney fan.”

This means the film inadvertently also survived Johansson’s 2021 lawsuit against Disney concerning the release of “Black Widow,” a case that ended in settlement.

Tower of Terror, a drop-tower attraction, exists under various narratives at Disney parks worldwide. The original, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, is still themed to “The Twilight Zone,” as it has been since opening in 1994. Its counterpart at Tokyo DisneySea is another thread in S.E.A. (more on that in a bit). The version at Disney California Adventure Park was formerly themed to “The Twilight Zone,” but underwent a rebrand in 2017, now being known as Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission – Breakout!

Disney previously adapted Tower of Terror into a made-for-TV film in 1997, starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst.

S.E.A. Movie and Series

The Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) — an underlying, subtle, interconnected narrative among various Disney locales, such as Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland and the defunct Adventurers Club from the long-gone Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World Resort — is planned as two separate projects: a film starring Ryan Reynolds and an unrelated streaming series. Deadline reported those developments in 2022 and 2021, respectively, with THR mentioning the projects as still active in today’s report.

Figment Movie

In 2022, Deadline reported a movie starring Figment the purple dragon as being in the works from Point Grey, Seth Rogen’s production company, along with writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (“Detective Pikachu”). Figment is an original Epcot character, starring in various versions of his own attraction there since 1983 (the current iteration being Journey Into Imagination with Figment) and serving as the mascot for the park’s annual International Festival of the Arts.

Space Mountain Movie

A film based on Space Mountain is in development from writers Josh Applebaum and André Nimec (writers of “Citadel”), as the Hollywood Reporter relayed in April 2024. The indoor roller coaster first opened at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in 1975, with siblings opening in the successive years and decades in California, Japan, France, and China.

All of these aforementioned film projects are in development, with no release dates announced and none in ongoing production.

In years past, a handful of movies held their world premieres at Disney theme parks, whether connected to park attractions or otherwise. Take a look in our previous story:

Whether you’re ready for your next Disney Destinations vacation or your first, our trusted partner Mouse Fan Travel will handle the planning so you can focus on the memories. They offer free vacation planning services and have nearly 20 years of experience creating memorable Disney vacations. Visit Mouse Fan Travel for a fee-free, no-obligation quote today.