How to Train Your Dragon 3, Captain EO, and Epcot's Journey into Imagination

Development of How to Train Your Dragon 3

• 🎬 Director Dean DeBlois found "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" to be a wonderful cap to the trilogy, though he felt the middle portion involved some "wheel spinning" and "plot mechanations."
• ✨ The film features beautiful, wordless sequences, such as dragons courting, reminiscent of "Fantasia."
• 🐉 The narrative choices in the film address the origins of the dragon-filled world mentioned at the start of the previous movie.

Early Development of How to Train Your Dragon

• 📜 DreamWorks acquired the film rights in 2004, with Peter Hastings initially attached as director.
• 🐻 Hastings previously directed Disney's "The Country Bears," where entertainment writer Jim Hill made a cameo appearance.
• ✏️ In Hastings' initial take, Hiccup was 10 years old, and Toothless was a smaller, dachshund-sized dragon.
• 🎨 Chris Sanders was brought in to redesign Toothless, combining elements of a black panther and a salamander, and increasing its size for Hiccup to ride.
• 😱 Jeffrey Katzenberg had a "panic attack" after seeing an early screening, leading to Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois taking over the project with a 15-month deadline.

Dean DeBlois's Career and Creative Choices

• 🎬 DeBlois also sold two live-action movies to Disney and one to Universal, but they were canceled by subsequent regimes.
• 💔 He discussed his time working with Don Bluth, noting the films were "totally incoherent on a narrative level."
• 🏳️‍🌈 DeBlois spoke about the inclusive themes in "How to Train Your Dragon 3," referencing the implied gay character from the previous film and the acceptance shown by other Vikings.
• 🐉 An earlier version of "How to Train Your Dragon 2" featured Kate Blanchett as a villain whose character's philosophy clashed with Hiccup's, leading to her taking the dragons away.

Captain EO and Michael Jackson's Involvement

• 🚀 "Captain EO," starring Michael Jackson, opened at Epcot in September 1986, becoming the most expensive movie in Hollywood history at the time.
• ⚖️ Following a 1993 investigation and a $23 million settlement in 1994, "Captain EO" closed at Epcot in July 1994.
• 🏛️ The attraction remained open at Disneyland until April 1997 due to legal pressure from Jackson's lawyer, who feared closing it would imply guilt.

Epcot's Journey into Imagination and Pixar's Potential Role

• 💡 The original "Journey into Imagination" ride opened in March 1983, with technical issues delaying its debut.
• 🐭 Michael Eisner and Frank Wells aimed to make Disney attractions appeal to a broader audience.
• 🚫 "Magic Journeys" closed in 1986 to make way for "Captain EO," which faced significant budget overruns.
• 🎭 In 1994, Disney considered a Wallace and Grommet show for the UK pavilion and explored ideas for updating "Journey into Imagination."
• 🧠 One concept involved inserting guests into Wallace's brain or Michael Jordan's mind.
• 📉 The "Journey into Your Imagination" attraction, which opened in 1999, was universally panned and closed in 2001.
• 💜 "Journey into Imagination with Figment" opened in 2002, with David Mumford ensuring Figment's return after guest complaints.
• 🌟 Rumors about "Inside Out" characters appearing at the Imagination Pavilion began in 2015, with an "emotion garden" and the Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival serving as potential trial balloons.
• 🎢 The "Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind" ride debuted at Disney California Adventure in 2019.
• 💰 The current "Imagination" pavilion is seen as a "wasted opportunity" compared to other Disney investments, with speculation that "Inside Out" characters could be integrated into a new ride, potentially involving Figment.