The image above, allegedly found in the archives of The Walt Disney Company and labeled “1952,” supposedly inspired Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof’s upcoming film Tomorrowland. In fact, it’s an impressively literal interpretation of J.J. Abrams’ “mystery box” aesthetic, in which movies and television shows like Cloverfield, Super 8, and Lost are sold as conspiratorial enigmas that must be solved via the public’s participation (and money). At the recent Disney fan convention D23, Bird and Lindelof rifled through their mystery box, revealing plenty of vague clues about the project and few concrete details, the better to tease the audience into total salivary anticipation.
Today, Disney announced a couple of specifics about Tomorrowland, while continuing to play coy about just what the hell the film is about. According to a press release, Bird and Lindelof’s “mystery adventure” (in a box?) began principal photography today in Vancouver. The release also divulged several of the key creative players involved, notably cinematographer Claudio Miranda (Life Of Pi) and editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now).
It didn’t divulge much more about the story, but it did provide the following enigmatic plot synopsis, which actually includes the words “secrets” and “enigmatic”:
“Bound by a shared destiny, a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor jaded by disillusionment embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as ‘Tomorrowland.’”
Britt Robertson plays the optimistic teen, while George Clooney is the disillusioned former boy-genius. Personally, I tend to find these sorts of sneaky-peaky viral games more tedious than enticing. At their most successful, they just lend movies an inordinate and often misplaced sense of importance that creates huge expectations that are very hard to meet. Bird, Lindelof, Clooney; these guys alone are sales pitch enough. The teases are superfluous, and potentially damaging. But that’s just me.
Disney will release Tomorrowland on December 12, 2014. Beyond that: who knows?