Has anyone seen the tweet about "1952"??

[nashpreds99]

Has anyone else seen this? Brad Bird posted this pic on twitter yesterday with the tweet "The Box...opened". Bird and Damon Lindelof have been working on a secret project for Disney with George Clooney attached to star with the codename "1952". Some have speculated that it could be the new Star Wars film but recently Bird and Lindelof have kind of denied that. Well, with this pic, all sorts of new speculation can start. If you notice the pics on top in the briefcase, all of them have Walt Disney in them. Also, the code name is "1952". 1952 was the year that Disneyland was first announced. The comic book below the photos is a copy of Amazing Stories and after looking up some stuff on some other websites about the photo, in 1952 the character of Buck Rogers was first introduced. I know Disney already has Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks coming out later this year, but could this be something else involving Walt?

Could Clooney be playing Walt Disney in a film about Disneyland?
Could this be a new Buck Rogers film?
Could it still be something related to Star Wars?

I love stuff like this, where we get to try and piece things together!

 

[mikelan6]

A mystery indeed.

 

[doconeill]

The cover appears to be the August 1928 issue, in which the story "Armageddon 2419" by Philip Francis Nowlan appeared. In that story, Anthony Rogers, a WW1 veteran who investigates issues in mines. He gets caught in a cave in, and breathes in some radioactive gas which causes him to go into suspended animation, and awakes nearly 500 years later.

The next year, when the story is adapted for a comic strip, he got a new nickname, and thus Buck Rogers was born...

As for what the connection to 1952 is... Perhaps they are rewriting the story to make him a WWII veteran...

 

[jrgutknecht]

I recognize the blue book in the front (you can see the spine of the book) I have a copy at home. "Model Research" details NASA rocket designs up to 1958 however the book was published in 1985.

And the item under it appears to be a rocket nozzle of some type.

I'm betting on more of a connection to Buck Rogers than Walt Disney.

Plus it seems odd that George Clooney would play Walt with that Tom Hanks moving coming out shortly where he plays Walt in the back-story about Mary Poppins.

 

[doconeill]

Under the "Color XXX By TECHNICOLOR" box on the left is what looks like a rocket nozzle, with an angle-cut nozzle.

And what is obviously a record, but I can't make anything out on it or the small box on top of it. The resolution isn't high enough I think to make anything else out.

Someone pointed out that Disney doesn't have rights to Buck Rogers.

And I'm not sure about the connection to 1952.

Buuuuuut...what ever happened to that Tomorrowland movie that was to star The Rock? Could this be a collection of things that inspired Walt for at least that part of the park? I haven't heard anything further in development of that movie since 2009. No director had been named, but Jon Lucas and Scott Moore from The Hangover were attached to write it.

I'm wondering if that died and they recycled some of the ideas....

 

[nashpreds99]

I'm wondering if it might possibly be a sequel/remake of The Rocketeer? The first film was set in 1938 so maybe George Clooney is the older version of Cliff? Howard Hughes was a real life person in the first film that was fictional. Maybe Clooney will be Walt Disney in the sequel. Do the events of The Rocketeer 2 lead to Walt developing Tomorrowland? I for one would love to see a return of The Rocketeer. I also think a Rocketeer attraction in Hollywood Studios or DCA would be fantastic!

 

[doconeill]

I forgot to post this on Monday:

http://www.deadline.com/2013/01/disney-1952-movie-new-title-tomorrowland/

The film that is a closely guarded secret at Disney has an official title: Tomorrowland. Formerly known as 1952, this is the big-scale tentpole that Brad Bird is directing and co-wrote with Damon Lindelof from a concept by Lindelof and Jeff Jensen. George Clooney is starring in a story that supposedly is about a man who encounters alien life on Earth. It recently was set for a December 19, 2014 release.

So I guess I was right...the Dwayne Johnson Tomorrowland film died and was recycled with Clooney...

 

[nefer]

A bit more analysis from a more mainstream gossip blog:

http://www.laineygossip.com/George-Clooney-as-Walt-Disney-in-Tomorrowland/25812

 

[doconeill]

A bit more analysis from a more mainstream gossip blog:

http://www.laineygossip.com/George-Clooney-as-Walt-Disney-in-Tomorrowland/25812

That's more mainstream than Deadline?

Seems to be the same analysis as before...sure, it could be deception.

 

[buckeev]

The cover appears to be the August 1928 issue, in which the story "Armageddon 2419" by Philip Francis Nowlan appeared. In that story, Anthony Rogers, a WW1 veteran who investigates issues in mines. He gets caught in a cave in, and breathes in some radioactive gas which causes him to go into suspended animation, and awakes nearly 500 years later.

The next year, when the story is adapted for a comic strip, he got a new nickname, and thus Buck Rogers was born...

As for what the connection to 1952 is... Perhaps they are rewriting the story to make him a WWII veteran...

NICE CATCH THERE DOC!!!

 

[doconeill]

Some new info, via some casting news (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hugh-laurie-talks-villain-role-420774):

Hugh Laurie is in negotiations to play the villain in Tomorrowland, Disneys top secret sci-fi project starring George Clooney and being directed by Brad Bird.
The plot of the movie project, which until a couple of weeks ago was being called 1952, is under lock and key, though it has been described as being in the vein of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielbergs 1978 movie about a man searching for extra-terrestrials on Earth.

All that is known about Lauries character is that he serves as the movies antagonist.


Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof co-wrote the script with Jeff Jensen, an editor at Entertainment Weekly.


The pedigree of Bird and Lindelof, their standing in the geek community and the force field of secrecy enveloping the project have raised interest in Tomorrowland.



Laurie is best known for his Emmy-nominated starring role as the brilliant but cold title character in Fox's House M.D. which ran from 2004-12. The show kept him busy, but he did find time to appear in the ensemble drama The Oranges and to lend his voice to such animated fare as Arthur Christmas and Monster vs. Aliens.

There is some speculation that this is a '"fictionalized history" set in 1952, and that Walt Disney is a character in the movie and is somehow involved in a conspiracy around aliens, or is asked to reveal the aliens to the public.

I'm thinking that perhaps Tomorrowland at DL was built as a real spaceport, but concealed behind rides, etc. to hide the aliens