Disney's Failed Next Big Thing: Tomorrowland

In the early 2010's Disney tried to recapture the magic of Pirates of the Caribbean by pumping out big budget blockbusters that went on to bomb at the box office. 2015's Tomorrowland is great example of this. In this video essay I examine what exactly went wrong, and offer some of my thoughts on the film.

Lone Ranger Video:

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Creative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0
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Letterboxd:

[EverythingAndAnythingGoes]

I loved this movie, but grew up thinking it was a dream I’d had until I randomly came across a Tomorrowland clip on YouTube one night.

[mesousagaby]

Hard to beleive Brad Bird also co-wrote this movie. And it's not a "he should only make animated films" thing, he did a solid Mission Impossible flim years before this...like...what happened there?

[HCX]

The fact that the live sets are some of the same Calatrava architecture locations as “Andor” is kind of iconic 😂😅

[aarkwrite]

Disney trying to recoup the budget spent on their failed franchise starters by keeping them off Disney+ and making video essayists buy/rent them 😂

[SammyxSweetheart.]

“Disney’s Failed ‘Next Big Thing’: Tomorrowland”
(May 12, 2024)1:42

[dragon_ninja_]

They should’ve called it “Journey to Tomorrowland.” That would’ve been a first step in fixing this mess.

[SarahAndreaRoycesChannel]

What I my thoughts on the film? I thought finally someone made a Bioshock movie, but strangely did go for the bad ending. Since then I learned that Brad Bird is a fervent objectivist, so it made a bit more sense in that regard.

[Flasa]

3:41 Perfectly balanced… as all things should be? 😂

[NikolajLepka]

I remember watching this one in cinemas... or I should say: I remember THAT I watched it, I don't remember anything that happened in it. It's so forgettable

[swbarron]

I genuinely, whole heartedly, love this movie. Maybe it is just my love for the retro futuristic style but almost everything about the set design and the characters is delightful to me.

[junkithuang]

What’s hilarious Is that Sci-Fi was actually Disney’s biggest struggle before Star Wars and Marvel. Wall-E, Meet the Robinsons, and Buzz Lightyears 90s TV Show was the only Futurism they touched on before everything became unnecessarily edgy…

[nightfrostbreeze]

The movie definitely has its fair share of problems, but I really like the final message of the film. That you need to latch onto a hope for the future in order to strive for it. Very on point with the optimism on which Tomorrowland (the theme park area) was built on.

[Leon-Lee-R]

I completely missed Tomorrowland I forgot it existed but this video makes me want to watch it. That brief period of flops for Disney was when I actually enjoyed them trying to do something different. I loved John Carter of Mars, The Lone Ranger and Prince of Persia.

[adventurebonni]

No wonder Cinemasins give 162 sins for this movie. Thanks a lot.

[junezchan]

I was hoping that the movie it would take place in Tomorrow Land. Waited and waited the whole movie. But when we get there, it was already deserted and empty. Like

[half-a-man]

I disagree, I thought it was a great movie. I like the scene in Tomorrowland the best. I would have went to see it at the theater, but I was kind of, indisposed, at the time. As soon as I got out of prison, I bought the movie immediately.

[JeffreyDeCristofaro]

Yeah, saw this with my mom and brother in theaters - we even visited Tomorrowland in DisneyWorld Florida, complete with several turns on the Carousel of Progress ride referenced here before it closed. This movie did have a lot going for it - George Clooney certainly gave it his best - but as usual, thanks to Disney, it's just not the film it could have been.

[corvo]

tomorrowland is one of my beloved movies from my childhood

[sorryiwasinanotherworldforasec]

I remember seeing the trailer and being really confused but I liked that the pin took her to a different place so I was mildly intrigued. My dad and I saw it in theatres and it was absolutely boring but also ridiculous because of the people getting hit by cars and heads being severed and George Clooney’s girlfriend is in a child’s body (??) so that rubbed me the wrong way too. My dad and I both agreed it was bad

[Rickyfyied]

"tomorrowland" is such a dope name imo.