Witch Mountain Reboot Gets Disappointing Update From Bryce Dallas Howard
The latest attempt to revitalize Disney's Witch Mountain franchise is not moving forward.
dIt has been almost two years since Disney+ greenlit a TV pilot based on Escape to Witch Mountain and its sequels, but director Bryce Dallas Howard doesn't have much in the way of good news about the project's status. The series is not happening, which throws serious doubt on the idea of the pilot, which was apparently completed, ever seeing the light of day. The Jurassic World star appeared in the ill-fated pilot alongside Isabel Gravitt (The Watcher), Levi Miller (Streamline), Bianca "b" Norwood (WeCrashed), and Jackson Kelly (Straight Man).
Escape to Witch Mountain, which released in 1975, centered on two orphans with psychic powers who were trying to make their way to the titular mountain, while being pursued by a maniacal millionaire obsessed with the occult. The movie spawned two sequels, a TV remake, and a later quasi-remake.
"It's not happening, which is disappointing," Howard told Collider writer Maggie Lovitt during a Fan Expo Canada panel. "It was a really great groove, and we really all enjoyed shooting it here in Toronto. Some things make it, and some things don't, and that's the unfortunate truth of this industry."
Witch Mountain was intended as the latest in a series of projects for Howard with Disney. She's previously directed episodes of the Star Wars series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett and starred in the live-action Pete's Dragon remake. She's also supposedly going to make her feature film directorial debut on Disney's Flight of the Navigator reboot.
Both of the attempts to revitalize the Witch Mountain franchise starred actors who would go on to become much bigger in the years that followed. The 1995 version, made as part of the Wonderful World of Disney, starred a pre-Mad Men Elisabeth Moss and Chucky's Brad Dourif. That was followed in 2009 by a theatrical movie, Race to Witch Mountain, starring Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, and Alexander Ludwig.
The attempt to modernize the property was to follow "two teens that develop strange abilities and discover their sleepy suburb may not be as idyllic as it seems." Travis Fickett and Terry Matalas (Star Trek: Picard Season 3's showrunner) co-wrote the pilot and served as executive producers. Augustine Frizzell directed and also executive produced. Davis Entertainment's John Fox and John Davis of Davis Entertainment are also executive producers on the pilot, along with Gary Marsh.
