Ever wanted to step into Scrooge’s counting house with Charles Dickens? Maybe you’d fancy an English country dance alongside Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy with Jane Austen. Or perhaps you just want to visit the pub where C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien and their circle met and hear them discuss literature.
Well, thanks to the imagineers at Disney you will get the chance. With Disney’s purchase of Fox complete they now
own most of the biopics about British writers. Disney plans to capitalize on it in a very big way by adding to Epcot’s United Kingdom Pavilion with a brand new Hall of British Writers Attraction in the tradition of Disney’s Hall of Presidents.
Among the inductees will include William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley, J.M. Berrie, Lewis Carroll, Edith Nesbit, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and HG Wells. The key feature will be a faithful recreation of the Eagle and Child pub with Lewis, Tolkien, Williams and the rest of the Inklings as part of a tie-in to the upcoming Inklings Cinematic Universe of movies.
“It’s going to be a really awesome attraction,” said Ed Ranig, the projects chief designer. “Along with getting Hoult and Holland to reprise Tolkien and Lewis for the Bird and Baby feature, we’re getting some top notch actors to play these literary geniuses, including Christopher Plummer as William Shakespeare, Patrick Stewart as Charles Dickens, Judi Dench as Mary Shelley, and Julie Andrews as Jane Austen. This will not only breathe new life into these works of great fiction but bring these great writers to life in a whole new and exciting way.”
Featuring Nicholas Hoult as Tolkien, Tom Holland as Lewis, Christopher Plummer as Shakespeare, Patrick Stewart as Dickens, Judi Dench as Mary Shelley, and Julie Andrews as Jane Austen.
The exhibit is slated to open on April 1st 2021. See some first images of the animatronic figures here!
UPDATE: APRIL FOOLS!
