Something Wicked This Way Comes (lost original cut of Disney dark fantasy film; 1982)

The film's theatrical poster.

Status: Lost

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a 1983 dark fantasy film by Walt Disney Productions, directed by Jack Clayton and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was intended to have more "mature" elements than the average Disney film. It tells the story of two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, whose peaceful life in Green Town, Illinois is shattered when Dark's Pandemonium Carnival arrives and begins changing the locals in various ways.

The film was completed sometime in 1982, but it got poor reception from preview audiences. As a result, the film was withdrawn from release and another $5 million was added to the budget for reshoots and re-editing. The original editor, Argyle Nelson Jr., was let go and replaced with Barry Mark Gordon. The reshoots and re-editing took six months to complete. Additionally, the original score composed by Georges Delerue was replaced with a new one by James Horner.

Deleted Scenes

Originally, the scene where the train rolls into town was more special effects-heavy. Computer graphics, in one of their first major Hollywood uses, were combined with traditional animation to make the circus magically materialize: the smoke from the train becomes the ropes and tents, tree limbs grow together to make a ferris wheel, and a spider web becomes a wheel of fortune. This scene was previewed in the May-June issue of Twilight Zone Magazine. In the final cut, the scene is shortened significantly; the train rolls into town and lets out smoke, then the smoke lifts to reveal the already-materialized carnival.

Another scene that was cut depicted Mr. Dark sending a giant disembodied hand to grab the boys. Disney executives decided that the mechanical effect wasn’t realistic enough and the scene was changed completely and reshot. The reshot scene, used in the final theatrical cut, instead shows hundreds of spiders invading the room and crawling over the boys. Because Vidal Peterson and Shawn Carson (who played Will and Jim, respectively) were several months older when the new scene was shot, the boys’ voices are noticeably deeper in this scene than in the rest of the movie.

Unused Score

As mentioned in the opening, Georges Delerue’s initial score was replaced with a new one by James Horner. For years, all that was available to the public of this score were snippets used in the original theatrical trailer (the credits shown at the end of the trailer mention Delerue, rather than Horner, as having composed and conducted the music, and the trailer also has a 1982 copyright date), along with some bootlegged recordings. In 2015, however, Intrada Records released Delerue’s unused score on a Special Collection CD produced in limited quantities. Intrada Records had previously released the final James Horner score in 1998.

Gallery

Images

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  Cover of the unused score's 2015 CD set.

Footage

The theatrical trailer, which credits Georges Delerue, uses snippets of his score, and has a 1982 copyright date.

See Also

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• The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)
• The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)
• Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)

Animation (Disney)

• Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)
• Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)
• American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008)
• The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)
• Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)
• Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)
• Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)
• Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)
• Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)
• Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)
• Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)
• Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)
• The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)
• Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s)
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)
• Maleficent (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2003-2005)
• Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)
• My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)
• Phineas and Ferb (lost production material of cancelled theatrical film of Disney Channel animated series; 2010s)
• The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)
• The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s)
• Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)
• Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)
• Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)
• Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)
• Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)

Animation (Pixar)

• A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)
• Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)
• The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013)
• Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)
• Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)
• Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)
• Toy Story (partially found early test footage of Pixar animated film; 1992)
• Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)
• Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)
• Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)
• Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)
• WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)

Audio

• Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)
• Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)
• Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)
• Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (lost original Vincent Price audio of Disney stop-motion animated film; early 1990s)
• Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)
• Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)

Live Action

• 101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)
• Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)
• Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)
• Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)

Short Films

• Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1920s)
• Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)
• Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1922-1923)
• Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)
• Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)
• Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)
• Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)
• The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)
• Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968)
• Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)
• Totally Twisted Fairy Tales (partially found Disney animated short series; 1997)
• Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)