If there’s one thing we can count on with Disney+ these days, it’s that if a property exists within the Mouse House’s vault, that property has at least a 50% chance of being resurrected via spin-off, sequel, or remake on the company’s seemingly unstoppable streaming platform.
The latest older title to receive a fresh coat of Disney+ paint? 1975’s Escape to Witch Mountain, itself an adaptation of the 1968 Alexander Key novel of the same name. It’s not the first time Witch Mountain‘s been pulled out of cold storage (back in 2009, it was loosely remade as a would-be blockbuster starring The Rock), but that’s okay: this new version’s not actually a feature, either. No, this Witch Mountain is intended to be a series.
According to Variety, Disney+ has ordered a pilot for the show, to be headlined by Bryce Dallas Howard (the Jurassic World trilogy) and co-starring Isabel Gravitt (The Watcher), Levi Miller (Streamline), Bianca “b” Norwood (WeCrashed) and Jackson Kelly (Straight Man). Like the novel and original feature film that preceded it, this Witch Mountain will revolve around “two teens that develop strange abilities and discover their sleepy suburb may not be as idyllic as it seems.”
Horror fans of a certain age might have quite a bit of nostalgia for this property. Like 1980’s The Watcher in the Woods, the original Escape to Witch Mountain offered low-key thrills and chills in a family-friendly way (Watcher is, yes, far creepier than Witch Mountain, but let’s not turn this into a contest), and some of those creepy-curious kids grew up to be big-time horror nerds.
Nothing further to report on the new Witch Mountain at this time, but do stay tuned for further updates as they roll in.
