Disney’s Tower of Terror aired on ABC on Oct. 26, 1997, with Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst. Here’s the story behind Disney’s first ride movie, and why it’s so hard to watch now.
Years before Johnny Depp turned a boat ride into a billion-dollar movie franchise, Disney tried the ride-to-movie idea on TV. The result was Tower of Terror.
The 1997 TV movie starred Steve Guttenberg as a tabloid reporter who fakes his stories and Kirsten Dunst as his niece. Together they poke around a haunted Hollywood hotel where five people vanished from an elevator on Halloween night in 1939.
For a lot of ’90s kids, it was a Halloween staple. Today it’s one of the hardest Disney Halloween movies to find. It isn’t on Disney+, and you can’t stream it anywhere in the U.S.
So here’s the whole story, from the fake lobby in a warehouse to Scarlett Johansson’s long-promised new version.
What is the Tower of Terror movie about?
It starts on Halloween in 1939. Lightning strikes the swanky Hollywood Tower Hotel, and five people disappear from an elevator on their way to a party at the Tip Top Club on the top floor, according to D23, Disney’s official fan club.
One of them is Sally Shine, the biggest child star around. The hotel shuts down overnight and slowly falls apart.
Nearly 60 years later, a down-on-his-luck journalist named Buzzy Crocker (Guttenberg) gets a reason to think he can solve the mystery, D23 says. His niece Anna (Dunst) helps out, and so does Jill Whitman (Nia Peeples), his former boss and old flame.
Buzzy makes his living faking outrageous stories for the tabloids, with Anna’s help, Bloody Disgusting noted. Then an elderly woman named Abigail (Amzie Strickland) tells him about the five spirits trapped in the hotel and asks him to help break the curse.
What follows is a scavenger hunt through the old hotel for items tied to each lost guest, plus a race to fix the cursed elevator, Bloody Disgusting said.
Lindsay Ridgeway played Sally Shine. Michael McShane, who kids knew as Professor Keenbean from “Richie Rich,” played Chris “Q” Todd, the nervous descendant of one of the ghosts who stands to inherit the hotel if the curse lifts, Bloody Disgusting noted.
When did the Tower of Terror movie come out?
It aired on Sunday, Oct. 26, 1997, on The Wonderful World of Disney, according to D23. The show ran on ABC back then. It filled a two-hour slot, and the movie itself runs about 90 minutes, io9 noted.
D.J. MacHale wrote and directed it. If that name rings a bell, he co-created “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” Bloody Disgusting pointed that out. So the guy behind the Midnight Society knew how to scare kids without scarring them.
ABC was already running promos that week. Here’s a 20-second one a fan channel saved from an old VHS tape:
Was Tower of Terror the first Disney movie based on a ride?
Pretty much. D23 calls it “perhaps the first” movie based on a theme park attraction, instead of the other way around.
Bloody Disgusting called it Disney’s original ride-to-movie adaptation. It came along years before “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Haunted Mansion” and “Jungle Cruise” got the big-screen treatment.
Those later movies got a lot bigger. The five Pirates of the Caribbean films earned $4.5 billion combined, The Hollywood Reporter noted in 2021.
Tower of Terror had a TV budget, and it shows in places. Bloody Disgusting said the full-frame TV look holds it back at times, but filming at the real ride makes it feel a lot bigger than its budget.
Was the Tower of Terror movie filmed at Disney World?
Partly. The movie was filmed in part around the outside of the real Tower of Terror at Disney World, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Bloody Disgusting said the crew used nearly every spot it could, including areas where guests normally wait in line or park their strollers.
The lobby was a different story. The movie had to show it two ways, sparkling in 1939 and then dusty and decayed in 1997. That couldn’t be done in the real attraction at what was then Disney-MGM Studios, so the crew built an accurate copy of the lobby inside a warehouse, D23 says.
If the movie’s lobby looks just like the ride, that’s why. Somebody copied it very carefully.
Why isn’t The Twilight Zone in the Tower of Terror movie?
The ride’s full name is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Rod Serling shows up on video, and the ride is packed with nods to the old TV series, Bloody Disgusting noted.
The movie dropped all of it. Disney chose not to license The Twilight Zone for the film, Bloody Disgusting said, and EW noted the movie cut any connection to the show.
So the movie built its own backstory around the hotel, the lightning and the elevator. Rod Serling never checks in.
Can you stream the Tower of Terror movie?
No. As of this writing, Tower of Terror isn’t streaming anywhere in the U.S., Disney+ included. JustWatch doesn’t list it for digital rental or purchase, either.
That’s been the case for years. io9 pointed out in 2017 that it wasn’t streaming anywhere. In 2023, Bloody Disgusting called it “oddly absent from Disney Plus.”
The movie came out on video in 1999, D23 says. Bloody Disgusting said in 2023 that the DVD was the only way to watch it. With no streaming or digital option listed today, that hasn’t changed.
Is Scarlett Johansson making a new Tower of Terror movie?
She’s working on it.
In June 2021, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Johansson was attached to produce a Tower of Terror movie through her company, These Pictures, with Jonathan Lia. “Toy Story 4” director Josh Cooley was writing the script. It wasn’t clear if she’d act in it.
A few weeks later, Johansson sued Disney over how “Black Widow” was released. When they settled, Disney said it looked forward to working with her on upcoming projects, “including Disney’s Tower of Terror,” EW reported.
In June 2025, she told EW the ride’s short story makes it tough to stretch into a full movie.
“It’s a hard nut to crack. Harder than you think, because the ride itself, there’s some lore to it, but it’s... I don’t want to say thin, but it is, kind of!” Johansson said.
She still sounded hopeful. “But, we’ll crack the case of it. It’s taking shape!”
No release date has been announced.
When did the Tower of Terror ride open?
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror opened at Disney-MGM Studios on July 22, 1994, D23 says. That park is Disney’s Hollywood Studios now.
Guests walk through the hotel’s rotting lobby and library, where Rod Serling sets the mood on an old TV, then head down to the boiler room. It all ends with a 13-story drop in a runaway service elevator, according to D23. The tower stands 199 feet tall, EW noted.
Disney kept adding drops over the years. Since Dec. 31, 2002, the ride has picked its own random drop pattern, D23 says.
Other parks got their own versions:
Disney California Adventure opened one on May 5, 2004, D23 says. It closed in January 2017, io9 reported, and became Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!
Tokyo DisneySea opened its Tower of Terror on Sept. 4, 2006, with a new story about adventurer Harrison Hightower III and his Hotel Hightower, according to D23.
Paris got one on Dec. 22, 2007, at the park now called Disney Adventure World, D23 says.
The Florida tower is getting some exterior work this fall. Scaffolding reached all the way to the top of the building in September while the ride kept running, WDW News Today reported.
Disney Parks posted a look at the ride in 2020:
What are some fun facts about the Tower of Terror movie?
Jan from “The Office” is in it. Melora Hardin, who later played Jan on “The Office,” has a role, io9 noted.
Kirsten Dunst was already a star. Before Tower of Terror, she’d been in “Interview with the Vampire” (1994) and “Jumanji” (1995), Bloody Disgusting noted.
Buzzy was a Disney regular. Guttenberg had already starred in Touchstone’s “Three Men and a Baby” and “Three Men and a Little Lady,” plus Disney’s “The Big Green,” D23 says.
The ride started as a Mel Brooks idea. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner first pitched a Mel Brooks-themed haunted Hollywood hotel attraction, Bloody Disgusting reported.
Ariana Grande wants it saved. On the Las Culturistas podcast in November 2024, she asked Disney to let the tower “stand tall, permanently in the name of historical preservation, spooky honor, and good, old-fashioned fun,” EW reported.
D23 went for the pun. Disney’s fan club marks Oct. 26, 1997, as the day the movie “made its de-boo.” Somebody at D23 had fun with that one.
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: Tower of Terror (television), The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Steve Guttenberg entries
D23 This Day in Disney History: Oct. 26, 1997, The Tower of Terror airs on The Wonderful World of Disney
Paul Farrell, Bloody Disgusting, July 18, 2023: Revisiting Disney’s original ride-to-movie adaptation
Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, June 27, 2025: Scarlett Johansson’s Tower of Terror movie update
Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, June 23, 2021: Scarlett Johansson and Disney team for Tower of Terror
Germain Lussier, io9, Jan. 13, 2017: Disney’s Tower of Terror movie revisited
WDW News Today, Sept. 13, 2026: Tower of Terror facade scaffolding at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
JustWatch: Tower of Terror (1997) U.S. streaming listing, checked Oct. 10, 2026
Disney Parks on YouTube: It’s Time to Check In at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Oct. 14, 2020
History & Nostalgia VHS on YouTube: ABC promo for Tower of Terror, recorded in October 1997
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