Movie News
WALL-E: Coming to a Theme Park Near You
Posted by Kevin Carr (kevin@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 28, 2008
There’s no doubt about it. WALL-E is the cutest robot to grace the silver screen since R2-D2. He’s just adorable on the screen, but he’s even more adorable in person.
This past fall, WALL-E started to appear in theater lobbies as a complex standee, with motion sensors surrounding it so it would talk to passers-by. It wasn’t just a hit with the kids, but adults too couldn’t help but interact with the cardboard Pixar character.
Now, people will have a new chance to interact with WALL -E in person. According to The Pixar Blog and the theme park web site watchdog Screamscape, the Disney theme parks are building three-foot-tall (which is life-size, in case your were wondering) mobile animatronic versions of WALL-E. These live-action characters will roam the parks and interact with guests and their children.
Yes, it’s another reason to engage in the flood of commercialism that is the Disney theme parks. (Sure, it seems a bit much as an adult, but the kids simply go bonkers in these places.)
The first WALL-E models will be found in Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park inside Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Additional models are expected to be rolled out in the Disneyland Resort parks in California as well, making Earth’s last robot bi-coastal.
But that’s not the real story for me. As a huge Pixar fan and a child at heart (with a couple kids at home to boost my interest), I want to know when we can get a life-size version of this summer’s hit movie robot to help around the house. That would be awesome.
Source: Pixar Blog and Screamscape
Read more articles by Kevin Carr
6 Comments
April 28th, 2008 at 10:35 am
That is a awsome cutout, cutouts can be so much as seen in this article. I actually work for a company that makes cardboard cutouts and we can add a interactive talking unit to any of them, that has a motion sensor so you can record your messeges. it is a great way to promote anything you want, we can make cutouts of your picture or design and you can make it talk. check us out at our site
http://www.lifesizecustomcutouts.com
May 9th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Robbie the robot of Forbidden Planet fame; gave me hope for the future. I have severe PTSD aquired when I was growing up and yet today I am retired and moderatly well off. I suggest that Wall-e can be used to bring kids like me out of thier shell and into the real world. Thanks guys for a job well done.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Does anyone know what Wall-E’s official size is? I ask because my theater actually has two standees for the movie, the one mentioned in this article with a large talking Wall-E sitting on his box, and another that’s a bench with Wall-E and Eve on it–but the Wall-E on the bench is much smaller. Is either of them supposed to be Wall-E’s “real” size in the movie? Personally, I think the small one looks more accurate, but this article mentions him being three feet tall, so I’m a little confused.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Ryan do you know if your theater can give away the Standee of Wall-E? Or how much? Either one would be great. Please let me know. Thanks
June 15th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I could ask the managers, but I don’t know how easy it would be to ship it to you! Plus, people keep breaking the arms off the small Wall-E.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I work at a theater as well. It is my understanding that the movie companies forbid theaters from doing anything other than destroying posters and standees once they are no longer needed. Some theaters will allow employees to take posters home, such as mine does, and I’d guess they’d probably let us take a standee home if we had some way of removing it from the premises ourselves. I am very doubtful that any theater would let you take a standee if you didn’t work there though, even if they didn’t want it anymore. Your best bet if you really want a WALL E standee is to find a theater that has one and get a job there, at least until the standee is available. Or you could offer to pay an employee to get the standee and then drop it off at your house or something.
I would like to take the standee at my theater, but I don’t really have anywhere to put it and it would probably get moldy and stale after a while. But I hope one of my coworkers takes it because I don’t want to see him get destroyed. ;)