Disney’s Something Wicked This Way Comes opened April 29, 1983, after a messy round of reshoots. Here’s how Ray Bradbury’s creepy carnival got made, why it flopped and where to stream it.
A strange carnival rolls into a small town in late October. Its owner can give you anything you want. The price is your soul.
That’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, and yes, Disney made it.
The 1983 movie was based on Ray Bradbury’s novel, with a script by Bradbury himself. It starred Jason Robards, with Jonathan Pryce as the sinister Mr. Dark, years before he showed up in Pirates of the Caribbean. It also had one of the most troubled productions of Disney’s darker era.
It flopped, then spent decades as a cult favorite that was hard to find. Now it’s streaming on Disney+. Here’s the whole story.
What is Something Wicked This Way Comes about?
Mr. Dark’s Pandemonium Carnival arrives in Green Town, and two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, want to know what it’s hiding, according to D23, Disney’s official fan club.
Dark starts transforming people in town. The boys end up hiding from him, and Dark threatens Will’s father, the town librarian, D23 says.
The carnival offers whatever your heart desires in exchange for your soul, Bloody Disgusting noted. There’s a creepy carousel and a blind witch, too.
Jack Clayton, who’d directed the classic ghost story “The Innocents,” directed it, Bloody Disgusting said.
The cast includes Jason Robards as Charles Halloway, Jonathan Pryce as Mr. Dark, Diane Ladd as Mrs. Nightshade and Pam Grier as the Dust Witch, according to D23. Vidal Peterson and Shawn Carson played the boys, Will and Jim.
Did Ray Bradbury write Something Wicked This Way Comes?
Yes, and it took him years to get it on screen.
It started as a short story called “Black Ferris” in the magazine Weird Tales in May 1948, D23 says. It became Bradbury’s favorite of his own works.
Bradbury wanted Gene Kelly to make it into a movie and personally dropped the story off at Kelly’s house, D23 says. Kelly agreed but couldn’t raise the money.
So Bradbury turned his screenplay into a novel instead. “Something Wicked This Way Comes” came out in 1962 and became a best seller, according to D23.
Hollywood kept circling it. Sam Peckinpah, Mark Rydell and Steven Spielberg were all linked to it at different points, D23 says.
Then, in 1976, producer Peter Vincent Douglas met Bradbury by chance in a bookstore and learned the rights were available again. Douglas grabbed them and started working on a script with Clayton, according to D23.
Disney got interested in 1980, when production vice president Tom Wilhite took a liking to the project. Cameras rolled in September 1981, D23 says.
How did Disney build Green Town?
From scratch, right on the studio lot.
Disney bulldozed its old, all-purpose town square set to make room, D23 says. Nearly 200 construction workers built the one-acre Green Town, a Victorian-style small town.
The carnival got its own two-acre spot on the lot, with a big tent and a midway lined with caravans, according to D23. Some scenes were filmed in Vermont for extra atmosphere.
The Green Town build took three months and cost about $2 million, Jim Hill Media reported.
Why was Something Wicked This Way Comes reshot?
The first cut didn’t land.
A test screening of Clayton’s version went badly, The Spool and Jim Hill Media both reported. Jim Hill Media said it happened in July 1982.
Behind the scenes, things were already tense. Clayton brought in writer John Mortimer to rework Bradbury’s script, and Bradbury and Clayton fell out, according to The Spool and Jim Hill Media.
After the preview, Disney president Ron Miller asked Bradbury to help overhaul the movie, Jim Hill Media reported. The reshoots cost about $5 million, the outlet said, and the expensive fixes sidelined Clayton and pushed the release back by months, Bloody Disgusting said.
You can spot the reshoots if you look closely. The two young stars had visibly grown by the time they filmed new scenes, including the spider sequence, The Spool and Jim Hill Media noted.
The music changed, too. James Horner’s score replaced the original one by Georges Delerue, both outlets reported. Jim Hill Media said Bradbury pushed to drop Delerue’s music, and that Disney first tried to get Jerry Goldsmith, who was busy with “Twilight Zone: The Movie.”
One big effects scene got cut entirely. An early computer-animated sequence showing the carnival arriving in a cloud of train smoke was dropped, The Spool and Jim Hill Media reported.
Did Something Wicked This Way Comes flop?
Yes. It opened on April 29, 1983, according to D23 and Disney.
It grossed $8.4 million against an estimated $19 million budget, Bloody Disgusting reported, calling it a “notorious flop.” Disney took a $21 million write-down on the movie that July, according to Jim Hill Media.
Reviews were kinder. The New York Times’ Janet Maslin called it “a lively, entertaining tale combining boyishness and grown-up horror in equal measure,” as Jim Hill Media noted.
Over the years, it built a devoted cult following through DVDs and cable airings, Bloody Disgusting said.
Is Something Wicked This Way Comes too scary for kids?
It’s rated PG, and it’s one of Disney’s darkest live-action movies.
Bloody Disgusting warned arachnophobes that it has “one of the more menacing spider attack sequences.” Between the soul-stealing carnival, the witch and the spiders, it’s a lot scarier than most Disney fare.
It does end on a hopeful note, though. In the end, Will’s father helps good win out over evil and saves the boys, D23 says. Older kids who like a good scare should be fine, but younger ones might want to sit this one out.
Can you stream Something Wicked This Way Comes?
Yes. It’s streaming on Disney+, according to JustWatch.
That’s a fairly new thing. The movie made its streaming debut on Disney+ on Oct. 3, 2025, Bloody Disgusting reported. Before that, you needed a DVD or a lucky cable airing.
It runs 1 hour and 35 minutes, according to Disney+.
It’s on TV this month, too. Freeform is airing it Sat., Oct. 17, at 7 a.m. and Thu., Oct. 22, at 10:30 a.m. EDT/PDT as part of 31 Nights of Halloween, according to Freeform’s schedule.
Disney hasn’t posted the trailer on YouTube, but here’s the original teaser, uploaded by a fan channel:
What are some fun facts about Something Wicked This Way Comes?
The tarantulas got loose. Live tarantulas came from Animal Actors of Hollywood, and studio veterans say a few escaped on the Disney lot, D23 says.
Mr. Dark became Governor Swann. Pryce later played Governor Swann in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movies, D23 notes.
Disney’s effects team was busy elsewhere. Clayton felt he didn’t get enough effects support because the studio’s crew was tied up on “TRON,” Jim Hill Media reported.
The book has a famous title. Bradbury borrowed it from a line in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”: “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
D23 Disney A to Z: Something Wicked This Way Comes, Jonathan Pryce and Jason Robards entries
Disney Movies and Disney+: Something Wicked This Way Comes official pages (credits, rating, runtime and release date)
Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting, Oct. 3, 2025: Something Wicked This Way Comes makes its streaming debut on Disney+
Jim Hill, Jim Hill Media, Aug. 2, 2010: How Something Wicked went from best seller to the big screen
Peter Sobczynski, The Spool, April 30, 2023: An appreciation of Something Wicked This Way Comes
JustWatch: Something Wicked This Way Comes U.S. streaming listing, checked Oct. 10, 2026
Grindhouse Movie Trailers on YouTube: Something Wicked This Way Comes teaser (1983)
Freeform, Sept. 16, 2026: 31 Nights of Halloween 2026 schedule
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