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Disney's Hollywood Studios - New Jack Sparrow Attraction

Martyn B

Martyn B

CF Legend
So this has like opened already. Never even heard of it before.

It's called "The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow". Here's a vid:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l00EaMqTm5w[/youtube]
 
Yeah I've been looking at this. I'm not a fan to be honest. The film is based off of the ride, why have another attraction? Oh right, money. But yeah, meh. I don't like the idea of ride spin-offs.
 
^Then don't go on the attraction :)

The films are huge, there is probably less Pirates stuff than other films like Harry Potter for example.
 
Also, Pirates are (and always will be) a very popular theme to use for any ride/film as its one of the most loved parts of history. POTC is also one of the most high grossing movie series Disney have created, so they're obviously going to be cashing in on it.
 
^I'm going to have to disagree with you there on the film front Mark. Until PotC, pirate films had pretty much died, and there are actually hardly any of them compared with, for instance, westerns (which usually involve similar story lines).

I also strongly believe that had Disney not gone ahead with PotC (the rides) in the first place then we'd hardly see any pirate themed stuff in parks. Disney made it popular, and loads of parks copied Disney's ideas because they were good, not because pirates in particular are popular.

Basically, I contend that Disney and Disney alone are responsible for the popularity of the pirate theme.
 
I agree that Disney did definitely boost the want for pirates, but there was obviously that love and intrigue in the first place for the attraction to be built. It's the whole case of it being easier to put across a sense of adventure by having an under-lying narrative (pirates, or as you also mentioned Westerns).
 
nadroJ said:
^I'm going to have to disagree with you there on the film front Mark. Until PotC, pirate films had pretty much died, and there are actually hardly any of them compared with, for instance, westerns (which usually involve similar story lines).

I also strongly believe that had Disney not gone ahead with PotC (the rides) in the first place then we'd hardly see any pirate themed stuff in parks. Disney made it popular, and loads of parks copied Disney's ideas because they were good, not because pirates in particular are popular.

Basically, I contend that Disney and Disney alone are responsible for the popularity of the pirate theme.
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They've done a lot for pirates, sure, but it's always been a staple of kids toys and fiction (I did plenty of pirates stuff when I designed toys pre-Depp POTC) and I think there'd be stuff in parks even without the new movies (but maybe not as much).
 
^I mean with the original ride, not the films (although I'm not saying that doesn't help).

I just think Disney really captured the idea of 'adventure' in pirate stories (like Treasure Island, etc) and put it in a more accessible context in their theme park rides. Most families in America have been to Disneyland, and PotC has been there for years and years and years. Other parks copied it, hence the theme becoming more popular.
 
I watched AttractionsMagazine's video of the attraction last night, it's odd. I don't think I like it. Apparently it's pretty similar to the Narnia attraction that was there before this but I never got to do that so can't compare.
 
nadroJ said:
^I mean with the original ride, not the films (although I'm not saying that doesn't help).

I just think Disney really captured the idea of 'adventure' in pirate stories (like Treasure Island, etc) and put it in a more accessible context in their theme park rides. Most families in America have been to Disneyland, and PotC has been there for years and years and years. Other parks copied it, hence the theme becoming more popular.
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I think that you're right in the reason why pirates have become a staple theme park "theme". Disney not only did it first, but did it bloody well and they are the template any theme park would have used for producing their new themed areas.

However, I don't think it was anything to do with popularity in mainstream culture. Until 1967, there were several pirate films released each year. They do drop off a little, but still, most years between 1970 and 2000 see at least one pirate film released. They're not as prolific as the boom leading the 1967, but that's just a natural falling out of mainstream fashion as the 70's obsessed with other stuff. Spielberg will have been more influenced by the swashbucklers in the 50's and 60's for Goonies than by the ride in California - though no doubt PotC reinforces the idea of the films, I just don't know how much of a direct influence a theme park would have on a director/writer over written works and films? From interviews I've read and autobiographies of writers and directors, they tend to quote films and books as influences [/anecdotal]

I think pirates, like "knights in armour" are just part of a romantic cultural thing, mostly created by and romanticised by the Victorians, and then brought to bloom by the early cinema (like Vampire films I guess too).
 
But the pirate films, in comparison to say, Westerns, were just not a very popular genre of film. Ask anybody (apart from people with a good knowledge of film) to name you a pirate film other than PotC, I guarantee you they won't be able to name one.

Yes, they did exist, but they just weren't popular. And The Goonies scene with the pirate ship is based directly from the scene with the pirate ship in the PotC rides ;)
 
Firstly, that's Disney, so I don't get the point you're trying to make, and also, it didn't do that well, so yh ;)

Oh, you're naming a pirate movie other than PotC, I get it ;) I was referring more to the swashbucklers furie mentioned but yeah, Muppets Treasure Island totally counts, but it also strengthens my argument that Disney are the ones who popularised the pirate theme ;)
 
That's true, but if PotC didn't exist, it wouldn't have made any difference to that other than nobody would have been able to tell you a pirate film :P

When I think of Pirate films/tales, I think of Captain Blood, Bluebeard's Ghost and Treasure Island ()and even mutiny on the Bounty I guess?) because I watched them/read them growing up. They all predate the PotC ride and I would never have known there was a PotC ride if I hadn't gone to DLP in 2001.

Certainly not as popular a genre as Cowboy films, but the popularity didn't increase post PotC or substantially decrease either; it was pretty much even.

You seem to be missing the fact that PotC didn't appear out of the imagination of Walt Disney and the team - it's based heavily on the pirate films and stories that were still relatively popular at the time the ride was being developed.

I looked at the list of pirate films made, and the Westerns. I like Westerns, but I where I had seen or knew about pretty much every pirate film made, I only recognised one in every 6 or 7 Westerns. Don't know what that proves other than I must like pirates, but had no knowledge of the ride :lol:

The actual statistics show that PotC killed off the pirate films. A steady stream of films out every year until the year PotC opened, then the films stop and you have gaps and fewer films released post. From 5 or 6 films in 1967 to 0 until 1970? The figures don't lie :P

The Goonies does have a very PotC feel and it did use rigging from the ride, but...
One Eyed Willie's ship, The Inferno, was 105 feet long and took 2-1/2 months to construct. It was modeled after Erroll Flynn's ship in The Sea Hawk. The sails required more than than 7,000 square feet of material. Some of the ship's rigging was recycled from the Pirates of the Caribbean ship at Disneyland, which was being renovated at the time.
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The ship is modelled from a prior pirate film, which suggests that the actual source of inspiration is an earlier film that Donner/Spielberg will have seen as a child :P

In fact, the film is filled with direct references to prior works by Donner. Spielberg et al AND other pirate films, but nothing Disney at all. I'm calling burden of proof :P
 
^Ah, I knew there was something to do with the Disneyland PotC in that Goonies ship, I swear the god I read somewhere that the whole scene, like the initial shots of it and its surroundings and everything, are based on the scene where you first see the pirate ship in the ride. If you look at the two they are pretty much exactly the same!

Interesting to see PotC finally killed off the pirate genre, I suppose because it's a force to be reckoned with and nobody wants to go there?

Also, you must be the only person in the world who didn't know of the existence of the PotC ride, you cretin you!

I do understand what you're saying with regards to there being pirate films, books, etc before PotC (ride) but like I said, the pirate genre just kept trying and whereas other genres like horror or gangster or anything else that flourished (think of ANY popular genre here) and compare it to pirates. It just is NOT a popular genre, at all. Yes there has been a steady trickling of piratey films over the decades, but nothing compared with the scale of horror or sci-fi or any other genre film. I believe PotC (film) only found success originally because of the love people had for the ride. I mean, obviously in my case it was because I'm a goon, but I remember loads of people who were equally as excited for PotC as me because, omg, it's a film based on a Disney ride!!! People weren't excited for PotC because 'ooh, it's a pirate genre film, I like those!'

Which is the point I'm trying to get at, basically ;]
 
nadroJ said:
I believe PotC (film) only found success originally because of the love people had for the ride. I mean, obviously in my case it was because I'm a goon, but I remember loads of people who were equally as excited for PotC as me because, omg, it's a film based on a Disney ride!!! People weren't excited for PotC because 'ooh, it's a pirate genre film, I like those!'

Which is the point I'm trying to get at, basically ;]
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I raise your anecdotal evidence and call my anecdotal evidence. We went to see the film about three times at the cinema because we loved it. None of us knew, until the film started, that it was based on the ride (I'd only been on the ride the once a couple of years before).

We took about 9 people in the end to see the film, and none of them knew it was based on a ride. They were excited about it because:

a) it looked like a great film
b) they liked pirates and pirate films.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's like saying "Robin Hood and medieval films are only popular due to the Tales of Robin Hood at Nottingham.". It's another genre that is similar to the pirates one, but one which everyone is still familiar with, despite there being no Disney version of it all in the parks.

I think maybe there's a massive realm of difference between the people you know who have been to the Disney parks and are well aware of the PotC ride, and the majority of people who haven't left the country yet ;)

Also, did the ghost story genre gain a sudden boost from Haunted Mansion and was the film well received due to the tie in*? :P



*The answer of course is no. PotC the film is popular because it's a superb action adventure film. If it had been crap, it would have failed just as Haunted Mansion did.
 
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