September 12 - Captain EO

On this day, in 1986, the science fiction, 4D movie Captain EO debuted in the Journey to Imagination pavilion of EPCOT Center.

 What happens when the creator of Star Wars teams up with an Academy Award winning director, an Academy Award winning actress and the King of Pop? You get one of the most expensive, on a per minute basis, movies ever made. In fact, if you adjust the 1.76 million dollars per minute cost for inflation, it still tops the list by quite a bit. Good thing Captain EO was highly entertaining.

In 1984, Michael Eisner was looking to create original entertainment to boost attendance at Disney theme parks. Yes, there was a time when that sort of thing needed to be done. He approached Michael Jackson with the idea to do a short film. Jackson was a regular visitor to Disney, albeit usually in an elaborate disguise: he once reportedly dressed as an old woman to avoid being mobbed by fans. Needless to say, Jackson loved the idea.

Because of the burgeoning relationship between Disney and LucasFilm, Eisner had already gotten George Lucas to agree to at least produce the film. Jackson wanted Steven Spielberg to direct. Steven wasn't able to make time to do it, so Lucas suggested Francis Ford Coppola. This was a slightly odd suggestion as Lucas and Coppola had had a falling out and refused to speak to each other for several years. Funny how a good gig can bring old friends together again.

Imagineers were asked to come up with something that blended outer space and music with a liberal amount of 3D effects. They came up with a parable about an intergalactic performer who healed lost civilizations with his song. It got a few tweaks and was finalized into the script we know and love today. Then filming began and the initial 11 million dollar budget for a 12 minute film got shot all to hell.

One of the biggest problems was that neither Coppola nor his cinematographer had ever done anything in 3D before, which requires specific lighting and camera set-ups. As any bean counter can tell you, on the job training like this is never cheap. Lucas, as producer, didn't help the budget woes any. He was working on several other projects of his own at the same time, so was rarely around to reign his friend in. When he did show up, he tended to approve whatever expenses were laid before him. After all that, when it came time for post production, 40 effects shots ballooned into 140. By the end, Disney had spent 30 million dollars for a 17 minute film. Eisner was incredibly worried about how this roll of the dice was going to go.

What do you do when you're worried about how an expensive project is going to be received? Throw a lavish premier party of course. EPCOT Center hosted a motorcade featuring the film's leading lady, Angelica Huston, fresh off her Oscar win for Prizzi's Honor, and her then boyfriend, Jack Nicholson. Janet and LaToya Jackson were also present. Their notoriously shy brother, however, was a no show. His absence didn't affect how people felt about the movie. It was an instant hit. Over 93% of people who came to EPCOT that first weekend said they came specifically for Captain EO and they were not disappointed.

Captain EO would eventually expand to theaters in Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. It would have runs of varying lengths in each of the four parks. The final showing would be in Europe in 1998. Or would it? After years of fans asking for the return of the Captain, it wouldn't be until after Jackson's death that EO would reemerge, once again in all four parks in 2010. It wasn't exactly the same show. The film was the same but since most of the in theater effects had been removed when it closed the first time, Disney ran the movie without them. Since the presentation wasn't the same, the revival was named Captain EO Tribute. The final final showing of this musical extravaganza was back where it all began, in the Journey to Imagination pavilion of Epcot in 2015.