D23 Expo ’13: TOMORROWLAND Shows Off a Dusty Box

During the D23 Expo Disney Live-Action panel, one of the most confusing and mysterious presentations was for Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland. The movie hasn’t even started filming yet so they didn’t have any exclusive footage show, so they decided to get creative.
They showed a mini documentary with talking heads from Walt Disney Historians, Imagineers, and other Disney enthusiasts talking about Walt Disney’s fascination with the future and technology. While he is known for his movies and animation, it was his imagination that was truly unparalleled. And every idea, every old animation cell, anything was stored down in the basements of one of the buildings on the Walt Disney Studio Lot. Unearthed in the Morgue, as they like to call it, was a box simply labeled “1952”. In it was a treasure trove of mysterious things, including a doctored photo of Walt Disney with Amelia Earhart, dated a couple years after her disappearance. Also within it was a blueprint of the It’s A Small World world trade fair ride, with a “hold room” revealed in the design when a black light was shown. All these little pieces inspired the action-mystery movie that will be Tomorrowland. Though I’m not sure where the line between fact and fiction will end.
There will be a special exhibit of the box and its content on the D23 Expo floor this weekend, so we’ll be sure to update this post with pictures as soon as possible.