In recent times, few original IPs in Hollywood can hold a candle to the pizzazz and visual flair on display in Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland. It’s a film that we ourselves found overly enjoyable, even if the storytelling risks collapsing in on itself at times. However, according to writer and producer Damon Lindelof, fanboys will enter the film with an innate sense of cynicism as this is coming from the House of Mouse.
Speaking during an extensive interview with Vulture, Lindelof spoke candidly about how he feels Disney’s new movie will be perceived by the moviegoing masses, and why he feels the term ‘original movie’ is somewhat of a moot point. Here’s what the scribe had to say on the matter at hand.
“There’s this great thing in all of us where we want to hope, we want to believe. But then what happens? We saw that hope with Obama’s first election … and then, with the second election, the cynicism sets in. We all want to be activated, but…it’s so easy to default back to cynicism,” he explained to Vulture. “Which isn’t to say that you have to love everything — obviously, we have to open ourselves up to some level of criticism. But when we all took this on, people were saying, ‘You can’t make an original movie anymore, and you certainly can’t make an interesting Disney movie. If you make a Disney movie named Tomorrowland, it’s gotta have Space Mountain, and you basically have to sell tickets to the amusement park.’ ”
“Now, I don’t want to start a war, but as a self-identified fanboy, I think that with this movie, it’s gonna be really hard for fanboys to say, ‘I really enjoyed this movie. It made me feel good,’ ” Lindelof continued. “God forbid you tweeted something like that! What would happen to you? You’d lose your readership! ‘You sold out!'”
While some of Lindelof’s claims appear to be a little over-the-top, the esteemed writer has it point when it comes to cynicism. That’s not to say that it stems from original movies trying something different, rather the fierce, almost unforgiving environment of the Internet and social media. One only has to look at the volatile reactions generated from Jared Leto’s Joker reveal for reference.
Whether this supposed fanboy attitude impacts Tomorrowland‘s box office record remains to be seen, but for now, you can share what you think of Lindelof’s comments below.