The roots of Disneyland revealed from the “Tomorrowland” Expo (Part 1)

Difficulties in visualizing the exhibition venue

However, in reality, there are not many films set at the Expo site. For example, at the 1970 Japan World Expo, there were films shot on location during the event, such as " The Family " (1970) directed by Yamada Yoji, " Three Little Bees " (1970) directed by Torii Motohiro, " The Thief " (1971) directed by Inoue Umetsugu, a Hong Kong film, " Gamera vs. the Demon Beast Jager " (1970) directed by Yuasa Noriaki, and " Crayon Shin-chan: Storm Called: Bodacious! The Adult Empire Strikes Back " (2001), which recreated the site in animation.

Another famous film that was filmed on location at the former site of the New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is " Men in Black " (1997).

However, it takes a huge budget to recreate the atmosphere of past fairs. For example, Erik Larson's novel "The Devil and the Fair," which depicts the true story of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer who targeted the tourists there, has been proposed to be made into a movie and a TV drama many times, but has never been realized. The reason for this is probably due to financial issues.

The New York World's Fair venue was so beautifully recreated thanks to the efforts of VFX teams such as Hybride and Rodeo FX, led by ILM. However, it wasn't all CG; the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain, was used as a location for filming. The futuristic buildings there have appeared in numerous film productions. (*2)

*2 For example, the final episode of the science documentary "Cosmos: Many Worlds" (20), broadcast by National Geographic, depicts the New York World's Fair in 2039 ( https://natgeotv.jp/tv/lineup/prgmtop/index/prgm_cd/2723 ). Much of the background footage was shot at the City of Arts and Sciences.

Synopsis ②

The story moves to the present day. Casey (Bullitt Robertson), a genius high school student who dreams of space, has a father, Eddie (Tim McGraw), an engineer at NASA. However, Eddie has lost his job due to the end of the space shuttle program. In order to solve this problem, Casey sneaks into Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, which is currently under demolition, every night and continues to sabotage the project. Athena, who has been watching them, hides the last pin badge in Casey's motorcycle helmet. The next day, Casey attends high school. The teachers lecture him about the hopeless future, but not one of them offers a solution.

"Tomorrowland" (c)Photofest / Getty Images

That night, Casey sneaks into the launch pad and is finally arrested, and her bike is confiscated. However, when she is released from the detention center, she finds an unfamiliar pin badge among her personal belongings that were returned by the police. When she touches the badge, a vast wheat field appears, and in the distance, a futuristic city can be seen. However, when Eddie touches it, nothing happens.

Casey, who visited the futuristic city by bicycle, was fascinated by the towering curved buildings, the trains running in the air, and the people flying around with jetpacks. He was invited to be a crew member of a spaceship heading to a star 20 light years away, but just before boarding, the power of the badge disappeared and he was pulled back to reality.