Walt Disney Pictures is once again looking to their theme parks for movie ideas, following the success of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and past and future movies based around the concept of The Haunted Mansion. This time, they’re looking to bring their popular park ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, based on Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 children’s story “The Wind in the Willows,” to the screen as a feature film that combines live action and CG by commercial and video director Pete Candeland.
Previously, Candeland did the animation for music videos by The Gorillaz and worked with Paul McCartney on the The Beatles Rock Band video game. Disney is looking for a writer to script the adaptation.
The theme park ride has been a fixture at Disneyland since 1955, making it one of the longest-running rides at the park. Previously, Disney made a direct-to-video version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in 1996 starring the surviving members of Monty Python, directed by Terry Jones and co-starring a considerably younger Steve Coogan.
