Disney’s Perfect Next Theme Park Ride Movie Would Be Pixar’s Figment

Disney has had a long history of making films based on their theme park rides, making films like Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise, but one property that it hasn’t touched would be perfect for the next Pixar film: Figment the dragon. Journey into Imagination has been on Disney Parks property in some form since 1983, and it is shocking that Disney hasn’t attempted to use this IP to its full potential. Because of the ride’s themes, iconic characters, and fan-favorite status, Figment and the world of Journey into Imagination would be an incredible choice to adapt into a Pixar film.

Figment, one of Disney’s many dragons, is introduced by his creator, the Dreamfinder, with him saying “Two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow, horns of a steer, but a lovable fellow.” As its mascot, Figment has been present throughout every iteration of the ride, giving him the same cultural status as many of the other Disney mascots. Figment accompanies the Dreamfinder, the dream collector who guides audiences through the ride while putting up with Figment’s crazy hijinks. The Dreamfinder and Figment take riders through an exploration of imagination, going through rooms centered around topics like art, literature, the performing arts, and science. Although throughout the years the ride has changed specifics somewhat, at its core it has always been about exploring the concept of imagination.

Recent Pixar films explore very abstract concepts, with Inside Out‘s themes of emotions and the mind and Soul exploring the meaning of life itself. Imagination is another hard-to-grasp concept that may be hard to explain to young audiences, but Figment is a perfect catalyst for this. Many of Disney World’s early rides had a backbone purpose of making learning fun, and the creation of Figment and Journey into Imagination is a perfect example of this. This theme could be explored ingeniously, with the theme of imagination having the potential to literally make the studio’s most imaginative film yet. However, unlike previous films based on Disney rides, because of the ideas and pre-established characters, it is almost required that the Figment film is animated – while the Pete’s Dragon remake is good, most fans don’t want a realistic Figment. If a film like this needs animating, then there is no better studio to turn to than Pixar.

Some may claim that Figment and Journey into Imagination are hard to adapt, with the ride and its story being too abstract to make into a feature-length film. However, the ride has existed in three different forms so far, all of which shared a core idea and character but contained original stories, music, and themes. Depending on which aspects Pixar pulls from each ride, they have a lot they could choose from. Furthermore, the ride has actually been adapted into a Marvel comic before, meaning that a world and story have already been nailed down. Pixar could easily lift the story directly from this series, something that Disney has done before, adapting Big Hero 6 from a Marvel comic. Furthermore, Pixar tends to make films based on original properties, so having as few prerequisites they must fit into the film as possible would probably be ideal for the studio.

A Pixar film centered around Figment would also renew interest in the parks, and Disney is constantly looking for tie-ins to theme park properties. Figment is already an incredibly merchandisable character, being found on all sorts of souvenirs at the parks, and having an entire Pixar film based around him would make him even more so. It is mind-blowing that Disney hasn’t jumped on the opportunity to adapt this popular, merchandisable, and thematically appropriate ride into a film, so hopefully one day soon the company realizes that Journey into Imagination is perfectly suited for a film adaptation as Pixar‘s Figment.

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