The Hollywood Reporter announced that Josh Appelbaum and Andrė Nemec had been tapped to write the script for Space Mountain, a film based on the iconic Disney Parks rollercoaster. 

Space Mountain, an indoor roller coaster and “dark ride,” is one of the most famous Disney Parks rides. Space Mountain opened at Walt Disney World Resort in 1975 and was quickly followed by another version in Disneyland California in 1977. Space Mountain is a staple ride in five out of six of the Disney Parks worldwide. The ride is malleable by design—it has been converted into a Star Wars-themed Hyperspace Mountain a few times.

Space Mountain is not the first Disney ride to be converted into a film, though it is perhaps the most surprising. Space Mountain’s lore is less defined than rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion, which have characters and themes ripe for adaptation. Appelbaum and Nemec have the exciting opportunity and freedom to create their Space Mountain story from scratch. 

Appelbaum and Nemec are behind some recent streaming hits like Amazon’s spy series Citadel and Netflix’s adaptation of the anime Cowboy Bebop. They are also known for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Rideback’s Jonathan Eirich, Safehouse Pictures’ Joby Harold, and Tory Tunnell are producing the film (Harold wrote a previous version of the script for Space Mountain). Ryan Halprin from Rideback is executive producing.