Thousands of fans from as far away as North Carolina started lining up in the wee hours of the morning (Feb. 23) for the re-opening of “Captain EO” at Disneyland, the first major 3D movie created with a major star and Hollywood filmmakers for a theme park.
The 17-minute musical space adventure from George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola and starring Michael Jackson and Anjelica Huston is being showcased for what is being dubbed a special limited engagement in the Tomorrowland Magic Eye theater at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Ca., where it began and played for 11 years from 1986-1997. (Story continues following 2 1/2-minute video of “re-premiere” below.)
It is a new 70mm print and the sound system in the theater has been upgraded but some of the first-of-their kind synchronized in-theater effects will not be re-created since the theater was retrofit for subsequent movies like “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,” which has not played there since Jan. 3 but which sources say will return to the theater as early as this fall after the “Captain EO” engagement, unless “CEO” is still doing well enough to hold the venue longer.
Jackson performed two original songs for the movie about a cast of merry, mythical space characters with dual personalities who undergo magical transformations to become Jackson’s electronic band in conquering the forces of darkness.
The original characters in the film include:
* Hooter, the little green elephant-like creature who sneezes wild musical notes through his flute-like trunk;
* Fuzzball, the orange-haired space monkey with butterfly wings;
* Geex, a golden-haired, two-faced personality with two left feet, one right foot and two shaggy heads named Idy and Ody;
* Major Domo, whose mirrored silver costume becomes a complete set of drums;
* Minor Domo, with his sparkling purple torso that turns into an electronic synthesizer played by Hooter.
During the journey, Captain EO and his merry crew discover a colorless planet where they are confronted by the Supreme Leader (Huston) and her forces of darkness. Using the power of music, dance and light to fill the planet and the theater with all the shades of the rainbow, the EO crew turns the black and white land into a magical world of color and happiness.
— By Scott Hettrick
oh, it’s so amazing~