Today's been filled with unexpected stories and unfortunate news items, but here's something we can all celebrate: according to Deadline, Nicolas Cage has signed on to headline a new movie by the name of Wally's Wonderland, a horror film which will pit the Oscar-winning actor against a cadre of evil animatronic beasties inside a spooky amusement park.
You heard me. Here's Deadline with further details:
"Nicolas Cage is set to star in Wally’s Wonderland, a genre film to be directed by Kevin Lewis (The Drop). Cage will play a janitor, forced to spend the night in a twisted amusement park where he is pulled into a living nightmare. As the threatening animatronic characters come to life, the janitor has to fight his way from one monster to another to survive until morning and get out of the park."
And here's director Kevin Lewis with one helluva pull-quote:
“For me there was always one actor and one actor only who could make this movie work, and that actor is Nic Cage. I’m thrilled to be working with him and can’t wait to see him go up against Wally and his gang of psychopathic misfits. I see this movie as Pale Rider vs Killer Klowns from Outer Space.”
Listen, I don't want to count any chickens before they've hatched, but if I'm understanding all of the above properly, Wally's Wonderland stands a very good chance of being the greatest cinematic achievement of all time. It's got Nicolas Cage. It's got a "twisted amusement park". It's got threatening animatronic characters running amok. The cinema is dying? Fuck you, the cinema has never been more alive.
Production on Wally's Wonderland begins this January, and we will be monitoring its progress very, very closely in the months ahead. Stay tuned for further updates as they roll in.
(Note: Header photo by Nicolas Genin, used with permission via Wikimedia Commons)