Disneyland Audio-Animatronics start a dystopian war in Netflix’s ‘The Electric State’
“The Electric State,” a 2025 Netflix movie, imagines an alternate history when Disneyland Audio-Animatronics technology leads to war.
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‘The Electric State’ sees Disney technology leading to dystopia
Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Ke Huy Quan star in “The Electric State,” a film in which “Walt Disney’s early animatronics for Disneyland took a surprisingly advanced turn, leading to intelligent robots a few decades later — who then revolted against their creators.” Directed by the Russo brothers, “The Electric State” debuts in 2025 on Netflix and co-stars Woody Harrelson as Mr. Peanut.
That entire paragraph above might sound like a Mad Lib, but it’s Vanity Fair’s real log line for “The Electric State.” The film is based on a graphic novel of the same name, written by Simon Stålenhag and published in 2018. The project is not affiliated with Disney.
Photo by Blake Taylor
To what degree the dystopian version of Disneyland history will be shown onscreen remains to be seen. It may simply be backstory, seeing as the story of “The Electric State” takes place in the ’90s and Disney’s Audio-Animatronics first debuted in the ’60s. Should the film mention specific attractions by name, characters from early Audio-Animatronics productions such as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Haunted Mansion, or Carousel of Progress may have had a hand in leading to the war between humans and androids.
Image courtesy of Disney
“What would happen if family-friendly robots came to life with terrifying results?” is a premise occasionally explored in pop culture, from the Chuck E. Cheese-esque critters in “Five Nights at Freddy’s” to the It’s a Small World dolls in Disney’s own “Kingdom Keepers” novels of the 2000s by Ridley Pearson.
Disney, Disney everywhere
It’s no wonder the film’s inciting incident involves Disneyland technology. “The Electric State” directors Joe and Anthony Russo, aka the Russo brothers, are best known for helming Marvel movies (including “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Avengers: Endgame,” and the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday,” among others). Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have even more Disney connections, having written all of the Russo brothers’ Marvel movies, plus “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Thor: The Dark World,” “Agent Carter,” and Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia” movies.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images for Disney / Jesse Grant
Many actors in the cast of “The Electric State” have accrued Disney credits across their career. In addition to the aforementioned Chris Pratt (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Ke Huy Quan (“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” “Loki”), and Woody Harrelson (“Solo: A Star Wars Story”), other Disney alumni in the cast are Giancarlo Esposito (“Once Upon a Time,” “The Mandalorian,” the upcoming “Captain America: Brave New World”), Martin Klebba (“Pirates of the Caribbean”), Anthony Mackie (the “Avengers” films, “Captain America: Brave New World”), Jenny Slate (“Zootopia”), Stanley Tucci (“Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Beauty and the Beast”), and Alan Tudyk (veteran voice performer who’s appeared in every Walt Disney Animation Studios film since “Wreck-It Ralph” in 2012).
All this to say: should “The Electric State” include any actual trace of Disneyland history (fictional or otherwise) within its narrative, its cast and crew are quite familiar with the subject matter. Pratt even stars in a Disneyland attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission – Breakout!
The cast for “The Electric State” also includes Jason Alexander, Brian Cox, Woody Norman, and Billy Bob Thornton.
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