In the first episode of Entourage, Vincent Chase was being courted for a movie based on the Disney ride The Matterhorn. This was an obvious jab at Disney, who based on the success of Pirates of the Caribbean would probably try to replicate that success by turning every theme park attraction they had, big or small, into a movie. Apparently though someone at Disney didn’t realize that this was a joke and there really is a Matterhorn-inspired movie coming out…and it has found its director.
Deadline reports that Disney has signed on Brian Beletic to direct the movie, which doesn’t have a real title yet and is currently going by “Untitled Explorers Project” (it was initially called The Hill, according to an earlier article written back in June). This will be Beletic’s debut as a feature film director after making a name for himself directing commercials and music videos (for artists like The Black Eyed Peas) for the past few years. What could a movie based on the Matterhorn possibly about? Here’s the logline, taken from the article, to explain:
A small group of young, super adventure/explorers, each with a specific skill set, are brought to the remote backcountry of the Pennine Alps under various guises for a trek across one of the planet’s remaining untouched realms. They do this with extreme skiing, snowboarding and mountaineering
Apparently no one has given Disney a memo reminding them that this isn’t the 90’s anymore and “extreme sports” are no longer the bees knees among the youth. The script comes from Jason Dean Hall who wrote the 2009 movie Spread and currently has an Untitled Robin Hood movie in pre-production from Atlas Entertainment. A futuristic Robin Hood movie. Maybe there will be some extreme hoverboarding involved in that one.
Turning the Matterhorn into a movie is a dumb idea to begin with, and trying to give it an outdated “extreme” edge is even dumber. I will wipe this off of my radar until a trailer unexpectedly hits me in the next couple of years…or if Colin Farrell beats Vinny Chase for the part. Check out one of Beletic’s Adidas commercials below.
Any interest in this movie? Are you still as titillated by extreme sports as you were back in the days when the X-Games were actually televised for longer than 30 minutes?