Once Upon a Time (“a Time” being 2010),Jon Favreausigned on to directMagic Kingdom. The overall premise was that a family went to Disneyland and all of the attractions came to life and started interacting. Pulitzer Prize-winning authorMichael Chabon(The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay)came on to write the screenplay, but then the project got stuck in development hell. Favreau decided to pursue the more personal storyChefand then went toThe Jungle Book.
But he hasn’t given up onMagic Kingdom, and at the press junket forJungle Book, Steve Weintraub got an update on the project:
What’s the status of Magic Kingdom?
JON FAVREAU: Well hopefully now with this collaboration if it works out well we can explore whatMagic Kingdomcould be.Magic Kingdomis a story I’ve been developing. Michael Chabon wrote the draft about Disneyland coming to life, and all of the different lands and attractions all overlapping one another and creating a big adventure that a family gets caught up in. It’s something I feel very passionate about. Part of the reason I explored this technology I used onJungle Bookis because I was considering it for that film, and maybe it might be something we work together on.
So it sounds like the project is still in the development stage, but it’s good to hear that Favreau hasn’t given up on it entirely.Magic Kingdomsounds like it could be a lot of fun, or it could be brand disaster. We’ve seen it go both ways when it comes to adaptations of Disneyland theme parks. There’s beenPirates of the Caribbean, but there’s also beenTomorrowland. It just depends on how sharp of a take Chabon and Favreau have on the material.
It’s also interesting to learn that the effects work onJungle Book(which looks incredible from a VFX perspective) are being brought to bear on Favreau’s consideration forMagic Kingdom. I’ll be curious to see if the movie ever claws its way out of development hell or if it’s one we’ll keep asking Favreau about every time he has a new movie that isn’t set at the happiest place on Earth.
