Captain EO
| Captain EO | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland Park (Paris) |
| Land / area | Discoveryland |
| Type | 3D film attraction |
| Opened | April 12, 1992 · June 12, 2010 (tribute return) |
| Closed | August 17, 1998 · April 12, 2015 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Closed |
Captain EO was a 3D science-fiction film attraction in Discoveryland at Disneyland Park (Paris). The 17-minute film starred Michael Jackson as a starship captain who defeats a tyrant with music, and it played in Paris in two separate runs: from the park's opening day, April 12, 1992, until August 17, 1998, and again as a tribute presentation from June 12, 2010, until April 12, 2015.[1][2] In Paris the film played in the Discoveryland theatre, presented by Kodak.[2]
History
The film was made for Disney by an unusually heavyweight team. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, produced under George Lucas, written by Lucas, Rusty Lemorande and Coppola, scored by James Horner, and built around two Jackson songs, "We Are Here to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me".[1] Anjelica Huston played the Supreme Leader, the villain Captain EO is sent to reform. With lasers, smoke and a fibre-optic starfield synchronised to the action in the theatre, it is often described as one of the first "4D" films, and at the time it was among the most expensive films ever made per minute of running time.[1]
Captain EO first opened in Florida at EPCOT on September 12, 1986, and at Disneyland in California six days later, on September 18, 1986; a Tokyo Disneyland version followed in 1987.[2][1] Paris, opening four years after the film's American debut, was therefore the last version to open — and, in the event, the last of the original run to close. EPCOT replaced it in 1994 and Disneyland closed its version in April 1997, leaving Paris as the only place in the world still showing the film until it closed on August 17, 1998.[2] Its replacement in the same theatre, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, opened in Paris on March 28, 1999.[3]
Jackson died on June 25, 2009, and interest in the film surged. Disney announced a return that December, and the attraction reopened at Disneyland on February 23, 2010, billed as Captain EO Tribute.[1] Paris followed on June 12, 2010, with Tokyo Disneyland on July 1 and EPCOT on July 2.[1] The tribute presentation could not restore the original in-theatre effects, which had been removed for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience; instead it reused that attraction's moving floor and water effects, matched to the film.[2]
The "limited" return lasted for years. Disneyland ended its run on June 18, 2014, and Tokyo on June 30, 2014; Paris gave its final showing on April 12, 2015, the park's 23rd anniversary, and EPCOT was the last to close, on December 6, 2015.[2] The Paris theatre, by then renamed the Discoveryland Theatre, went on to host temporary film programmes before Mickey's PhilharMagic opened there on October 1, 2018.[4]
Experience
Guests took 3D glasses into a seated theatre for a short space opera told almost entirely through music. Captain EO and his untidy crew — the elephant-like Hooter, the flying Fuzzball, the two-headed Geex and the robot Major Domo — crash-land on the Supreme Leader's industrial world, are captured, and are sentenced before EO can deliver his "gift".[1][2]
The gift turns out to be song. As "We Are Here to Change the World" builds, the crew becomes a band, the Leader's guards become dancers, and EO confronts the Supreme Leader herself, transforming her into a serene queen and her blighted planet into a green, temple-dotted paradise. The film closes in celebration to "Another Part of Me" as the ship departs.[1]
See also
- Disneyland Park (Paris)
- Discoveryland
- Mickey's PhilharMagic
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- List of Disneyland Park (Paris) attractions
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Captain EO. Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-11-15.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Captain EO at the Magic Eye Theater, Disneyland Park. Yesterland. Retrieved 2026-11-15.
- ↑ Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!. Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-11-15.
- ↑ Mickey's PhilharMagic. Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-11-15.