Movies With Butter

It's been largely shrouded in secrecy until now -- and really, all things considered, it's mostly still shrouded -- but Disney has just dribbled out a few details regarding Brad Bird's top-secret project, code named 1952.

For starters, it's now named Tomorrowland, which is rather intriguing in and of itself, given that the project reportedly has its genesis in a box that Damon Lindelof discovered in the Disney vaults. As Vulture describes it:

The box was originally labeled with the title of the studio’s 1965 comedy That Darn Cat!, which had been crossed out and in its place was written “1952.” Inside was a random-at-first-glance collection of documents and primary source materials that, when looked at all together, indicated that someone had been working on a project (movie? theme park ride?) about alien contact. It’s unclear whether or how the box has inspired the development of the project.

But that's not all: We also know that George Clooney has been confirmed to star in the project, which is set to arrive in theaters on December 19, 2014. Bird will produce and direct from a script he co-wrote with Lindelof, which was in turn developed from a concept dreamed up by Lindelof and Entertainment Weekly writer Jeff "Doc" Jensen.

It's mighty fashionable to hate on Disney, but these days, it's getting pretty difficult to do -- between their steady (if not stupendous) stewardship of Pixar to their absorption of the Marvel, Muppet, and Lucasfilm kingdoms, it's hard to be any kind of fanboy without experiencing some degree of enthusiasm for what the Mouse House is up to, and projects like Tomorrowland only underscore that excitement. At the very least, they're attracting plenty of talented creative types -- and in this particular case, Bird, Lindelof, and Jensen make for a pretty appealing trio.

• Prev:  J.J. Abrams May Not Finish 'Star Wars: Episode VII' By 2015
• Next:  Paul Giamatti to Play The Rhino in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'