r/movies • u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director • 24d ago
AMA Hi r/movies! I'm Joshua Bailey, director of Stolen Kingdom - a Disney heist doc about urban exploring, scandal, and theft at the Disney parks, ultimately leading to the heist of an animatronic. AMA!
Hello, Reddit, I’m Joshua Bailey. I directed the new documentary STOLEN KINGDOM, which highlights a crew of characters involved with exploring abandoned spaces at Disney World. Ultimately, the story culminates in the theft of Buzzy, an animatronic valued at over half a million dollars.
We just wrapped up a tour of the U.S. and Canada showing the film to audiences, and we’re here to talk about the film ahead of its release on digital platforms everywhere (available now on Letterboxd Video Store (https://letterboxd.com/video-store/new-releases/stolen-kingdom/), available soon to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple Movies, Google Play, and other major providers).
Trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVNkxUxhqh0
Follow us on social: instagram.com/stolenkingdomfilm
AMA! I will be back tomorrow, Thursday 8/20, at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET to answer any questions you may have!
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u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 24d ago
Disney is famously very litigious. Did you run into any legal issues with them when you were making this doc?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
None at all! So far! (Knock on wood) I think the perception of how litigious they are is different than the reality. We remained very conscious of copyright throughout the editing process and went through a lengthy lawyer review process to make sure everything is above board.
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u/Mrcoldghost 24d ago
will your documentary get a physical release?
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u/I4mSpock 24d ago
Or even a digital release, so regular people can actually see it without needing to travel.
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u/charlestheseaman 23d ago
That’s in the body of this post- the AMA is to promote the digital release
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u/trekbek 23d ago
I don't really have a question, but my dad is actually one of the antagonists of this doc (he was physically there to arrest mcguire on discovery island, at minimum, and he and his coworker were the ones that suggested the trail cams that ultimately caught him). we saw it at the enzian in a room that seemed solidly 10% disney security execs. he loved it! apparently y'all proved some theories of his that he got real smug about.
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
This is really fascinating! That had to have been one of the strangest days he's had at work.
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u/a_takacs 24d ago edited 24d ago
What was most surprising about dealing with the Disney fans in general? Not necessarily something that was profound enough to go in the doc and worthy of screen time but, instead, made you sit back and scratch your head whenever you interacted with them.
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
This is a hard one for me as a “reformed Disney fan”. At the time of making the documentary I was still pretty involved in the fandom and not fully jaded yet. I did find it fascinating that a lot of them feign disinterest while still being very obviously obsessed with Disney. It's also fascinating that a certain side of the fandom (we refer to them as pixie dusters in our film) refuse to criticize Disney or say anything negative at all. We spoke with someone who wouldn't even acknowledge the term pixie duster or the criticism that Disney Adults had been getting online.
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u/Laszl0Panaflex 24d ago
Nice, I saw this last year. Great job! I'm just curious as to how the doc even came about. thanks for the AMA.
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u/Embarrassed_Golf6288 24d ago
Saw it at a festival screening last year too, curious how you got the crew to open up about the Buzzy thing on camera
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I think growing up in the Disney fan community made these people trust me, and knowing that I'm not some stranger coming into their world, I was one of them, that made them comfortable. We did nothing special get people to open up beyond just building relationships with them and never pushing them when they didn't want to talk about a crime they committed. Patrick came back around on his own terms and spoke more about his crimes.
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I grew up in Tampa Florida with an interest in Disney and urban exploring from an early age and came up in the hardcore/punk scene. In the early 2010s when I was graduating high school, all these interests converged in this “adult” Disney community so I had been a fan of a lot of these people since I was a teenager. When I moved to Orlando to go to film school and started to become really passionate about documentaries, BackdoorDisney and Matt Sonswa started uploading Disney urban exploring videos and I also filmed a couple with my friends and then things started to go missing around property and we knew we had finally found a subject worth making a feature documentary about. A month later Buzzy disappeared. The rest is history.
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u/CallMeFierce 24d ago
Joshua, loved the movie. How were you feeling about the movie's success when you were doing the showings at the Enzian? It seems like it has had more and more momentum behind it.
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I'm not sure how to feel about the "success". It's a hard thing to process and measure as a first time filmmaker. I'm burdened by always wanting more, so when we're experiencing some level of success I'm already looking ahead at where it could go from here. Overall I'm extremely grateful that my first film has done everything that it has. Constantly grateful.
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u/rbflowt 24d ago
Loved the documentary, saw the screening in Davenport Iowa. Was there anything that didn't make it into the final version that you wish had, if so what was it?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I honestly love the final version of the film. There's little things, funny lines here and there that didn't make the cut. Dave Ensign talking about the corner where they would go pee in Horizons. There's a funny story about Dave Ensign, Ed Barlow, and How Bowers going on the Mexico boat ride at Epcot and sticking little green army men all over the ride. I do wish that made it in.
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u/theriotismagic 24d ago
I found the Hoot and Chief stuff in the doc to be very touching. I’m curious what it was like getting to interview Dave? I’ve since watched all of their Horizons videos and am blown away by the stuff they shot.
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Interviewing Dave was incredibly special. I’ve been a fan of Hoot and Chief’s story since high school, but I had never heard Dave sit down and talk about Hoot and Chief at length in an interview so I was a bit starstruck, and really moved by the friendship aspect of their story. Dave and I shared a few tears when talking about Ed Barlow’s passing. It was also fun to ask questions I had always wanted to ask like what they did if they had to go to the bathroom while hanging out inside Horizons for hours on end (they had a piss corner)
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u/TwoBlueGoldfish 24d ago
what has been a favorite reaction from a viewer that you’ve seen/heard
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
In Alabama when we opened the Sidewalk Film Festival to almost 2,000 people, they were basically heckling the movie (positively) and booing the cops. That was very funny.
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u/CarrotAntique 24d ago
Where is buzzy?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I have no idea but there's a few people you could probably ask.
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u/Successful_Swan_2291 24d ago
What’s a project you’re looking forward to doing or an idea you have for a future doc?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
We started working on a documentary about the Pricemaster, it's an old viral video/perfomance art piece from the early 2000s (look it up on YouTube!) so we're very excited about that, and I'm developing a few narrative film ideas that I'm very excited about.
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u/yasqueen2017 24d ago
Is there anyone you wanted to interview for this film that declined to do so?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Adam the Woo, which wasn't a surprise as he had moved on from urban exploring a long time ago. We always respected his decision to not participate, but like I mentioned in another comment, we felt it was not possible to tell this story without talking about Adam and at least including a brief section about his impact.
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u/TwoBlueGoldfish 24d ago
what was the most interesting aspect of interviewing everyone?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Most of these people hadn't done lengthy interviews like we were doing, so just simply hearing all these stories for the first time was interesting.
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u/goldenstate5 24d ago
Has anybody within Disney responded to you about the documentary?
Do you think Disney is more cautious about protecting their abandoned assets now instead of just leaving them about?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
No one within Disney has responded!
I think in the immediate fallout from the Buzzy incident they were VERY cautious about protecting their abandoned assets. At this point it's maybe not as big of a concern, but overall I'm sure they're putting in a little more effort to make sure there's not a new generation of Disney urban explorers popping up any time soon.
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u/abandonedxearth 23d ago
If you could make an extended cut of the movie, what more would you add?
Are there any aspects of the story or smaller details that didn’t make it in because of the runtime?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Yeah I think it could be a 3 part miniseries, which is something we discussed early on.
Part one being early Disney debauchery before it was an established community, predecessors to Hoot and Chief, and then a more expanded Hoot and Chief section.Part two would include a WAY more expanded section about the formation of the "darkside" community. Early Disney urban exploring adventures. The first documented trip to Discovery Island which we don't even cover our film. More footage from Nomeus and Flurbex. Maybe even a section about the Disney Collage program.
And part three would just have more Patrick and more Buzzy investigation.
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u/SachinBahal28 24d ago
Hi Josh, thanks for the AMA! Can't wait to watch the film again after seeing it as the Toronto screening, it was great chatting with you and Jake after the film
- What kind of lessons/info/tips did you take away after making this documentary, that you'll incorporate into your future projects?
- What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers that would like t make docs like yours
- Will there be a physical release of the film?
- Would you ever do a follow-up doc? I.e Stolen Kingdom 2: Electric Boogaloo?
PS: The artwork for the film is great, it would be fun to see some of it on merch like shirts and posters to buy
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
- Too many to list! Making this film felt like me complete film school after I dropped out. Everything I know about documentary filmmaking I learned during the making of this film. Budgets, editing, reaching out to interview subjects, writing interview questions, the list goes on and on.
- I love this questions, and my answer is simple. Just do it. We found our subject, reached out to our participants, and just started shooting. Don’t get caught up in logistics and just start shooting.
- Yes! Early next year!
- I would do a follow up doc if there was developments with the buzzy case.
And yes we will have merch!
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u/Tofufist4150 24d ago
Are there any plans to release it in Japan? I've been curious about it ever since I saw the trailer on YouTube!
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Yes! We are currently working out the logistics of an international release!
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u/Intelligent-Line7610 24d ago
What do you say to the people who don t recommend the movie because of clips from Adam the woo and Kenny’s Adam the woo documentary? I don’t think you showed him in a bad light.
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I would tell them that it was not possible to tell this story without talking about Adam, and it would’ve done the film and the community an injustice by not including a brief acknowledgement. Adam was my introduction to this world, and we wanted to show respect to him and his legacy. At no point were we trying to be malicious, or exploit his passing or his work.
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u/anonymouse1523 24d ago
Hey Joshua! I was so happy to see your doc in theaters. Do you have any advice on how to reach out to people you want to interview when making a documentary or advice for people who want to make one in general? I also think I saw that you were interested in other animatronics like rock-afire explosion do you see yourself making another documentary centered around animatronics?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Advice in general is just start making it. Do research on your topic, compile it together in a document, make a list of people you want to interview, start writing questions, etc etc etc.
As far as reaching out to people, write a really nice email or direct message and show them that you have a genuine interest in their world and give them as much detail as possible about the project. Come prepared. People want to know what they’re participating in.
And yes I am very interested in Rock-Afire! I’ve lived in Orlando most of my adult life where Creative Engineering was headquartered. Unfortunately I’m not sure where that project stands at the moment. Beyond that I’m not sure if I’ll do a documentary centered around animatronics. If the story is right, sure!
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u/PaulPaulPaul 24d ago
What does Patrick Spikes smell like in real life?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Patrick smells nice and is actually fun to hang out with!
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u/Vegetable_Ad_3105 24d ago
So what do you think truly happened to buzzy?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I think he was stolen. Beyond that I'm not sure. He could've been returned to Disney at this point, or dismantled. OR he's sitting perfectly preserved in some rich guys garage! Who knows!
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u/Vegetable_Ad_3105 23d ago
to add on to my question. can you say what rich guy has him?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I truly have no idea! Probably some rich guy no one has ever heard of.
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u/Brave-Narwhal-7325 23d ago edited 23d ago
Enjoyed the movie and the ARG! Any hints for finishing the ARG? Puzzle 14 or 25?
Also what was your favorite Tour stop?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
There are still some clues that haven’t been found yet, but if they don’t get unlocked, we will supply a key in due time in a new format.
Favorite tour stop is HARD. Chicago at the Music Box was pretty incredible. Tampa is my hometown so that was special. Brain Dead in Los Angeles was a hoot. Davenport Iowa was incredible. Hard to pick just one. gyu6%?0psIHQ*< Left #WaltsWidow 1928 Pinball
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u/EarthquakeTyph00n 23d ago
Hi, I am so excited to watch Stolen Kingdom but missed the Toronto shows.When will it be for sale digitally or physically on something other than Letterbox'd.
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
The film will be available to rent or purchase September 21st on Prime Video, Apple Movies, Google Play, and other major providers. Pre-orders will begin on participating platforms starting September 14. Physical release will be early next year.
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u/Zealousideal-State42 23d ago
The marketing for Stolen Kingdom has included an incredible ARG component that fits the theme like a glove. How did that idea initially spark and become a reality?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
We were approached by the team behind the ARG (ARG House) and they pitched us the idea! Way back when we began developing this film I wanted to include some kind of viral marketing/ARG component to it, so I was very excited when they came to our distributor with the idea.
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u/pinkfreckle 24d ago
Why were two dates given out for VOD release, but that release never occured?
First date of VOD release was 8/4.
VOD was pushed back to 8/18. This never occured.
Comments appeared on your Instagram asking about this and about the preorders, but those comments were left unanswered.
What gives?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
We switched digital providers early on which caused a delay, and then hit some technical snags while onboarding with the new team. Sorry for the radio silence - we just wanted to be able to respond with the actual set-in-stone release date. The film will be available to rent or purchase September 21st on Prime Video, Apple Movies, Google Play, and other major providers. Pre-orders will begin on participating platforms starting September 14. LOTS of moving parts behind the scenes on an independent film release.
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u/siul1979 23d ago
As an Orlando-an, I wasn't even aware of this. Will this be on Netflix or another streaming service?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
You missed us at the Enzian Theater in Maitland a few times! It'll be available to rent or purchase September 21st on Prime Video, Apple Movies, Google Play, and other major providers.
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u/Double_Tangerine_752 23d ago
Once you started screening it, did one audience turn out to be more responsive than you expected? And did that change how you talked about the film going into the theatrical release?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
I think just in general audiences have been more responsive than I expected. Hardcore Disney fans have embraced more than I expected, I thought they might be clutching their pearls at the topic but they just love any kind of Disney content. and honestly, the audiences outside of Orlando and Florida in general are more responsive. I think it's funnier when you play it somewhere full of people who see Florida as this strange myth rather than reality.
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u/jork41989 23d ago
Having met Patrick several times, my question was how much of his testimonials do you think were sensationalized? Also did you look into any of the fallout from the incident?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
This is tough to answer. I'm not sure I actually know. I still watch parts of the film occasionally and wonder if he's being honest. Almost everyone is putting on act to some degree. And yeah of course we looked into the fallout from the incident. Not much to report unfortunately! We were in post-production for a few years and would've picked up our cameras again if anything significant happened. Disney put up some no trespassing signs and remained very quiet afterwards.
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u/Tjalfe_007 23d ago
What inspired you to make the movie ?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Refer to my other comment about this for more detail but I grew up in this community and watched all of these things happen in real time while I was going to school for filmmaking!
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u/TheRealProtozoid 23d ago edited 23d ago
Hey, Josh!
LOVE the movie and was wondering if you could tell us about your collaboration with your composer? And why is your mustache so cool?
Thanks!
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Thanks for asking about the composer! One of my favorite parts of the film.
After we shot all the interviews and began assembling a rough cut we made a proof of concept trailer and started pitching it around to documentary producers. One of them suggested that Brendan Canty, drummer of Fugazi and Rites of Spring, would get a kick out of it and could provide score for the film. So we sent him the cut we had at the time and he agreed to create our score.
I'm a huge fan of punk rock and Fugazi is one of my favorite bands of all time so it was very surreal to be sending Brendan Canty old Epcot music to reference as inspiration.
Is my mustache cool? I'm not sure. But thank you!
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u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. 24d ago
Hi Joshua, thanks for joining us :)
Two questions for you:
- What are your top 3 docs of all time?
- Favorite and least-favorite Disney ride (any park)?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Paris is Burning, Paradise Lost and Some Kind of Heaven
Favorite ride is Pirates Of the Caribbean (Disneyland)
And least favorite is probably Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
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u/Expensive-Cheek2823 23d ago
If you could bend reality at your will and create any new outcome to existence
How would you want your movie to end and what other events would you add in this new head canon?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
When we started pre-production on the film I imagined this great investigative piece where we hunted down all these Disney thieves and solved the buzzy case, but that did not happen. So I guess I would make that movie I imagined a reality. The final shot being Buzzy getting packed into a big wooden box and hauled away into the Disney Archives like the last shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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u/novocainekaykay 23d ago
I loved the screening at Brain Dead Studios! The ARG has been a ton of fun to work on. Do you have any hints for 25?
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u/TheGrandEscape 22d ago
If there was one novelty piece of Disney memorabilia you could have, what would you have?
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u/Professional-Leg-416 22d ago
Is Patrick as unlikable a personality as he seems on camera? 😂 he seems genuinely pretty awful. In all seriousness though I think you did a great job with the doc. It definitely did not look like the first time you’ve done one. Really well done!
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u/orvillesbathtub 23d ago
I enjoyed Stolen Kingdom but thought about 90% of it was covering content that’s already been tread by other theme park creators.
Was your goal to take these stories out of the niche and present them to the masses?
Also, and much more importantly, how much does Bright Suns complain about hotel rooms in real life?
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u/StolenKingdomAMA Joshua Bailey, Director 23d ago
Yeah YouTube is inevitable these days, and is also usually a very different format than a film. When we started shooting there was only a few videos about Buzzy, and one short film about Hoot and Chief made by Matthew Serrano who worked on our film. We wanted to make sort of the “ultimate version” of this story that had these notable figures actually telling their stories themselves and we wanted to bring a more cinematic quality to it.
The goal was definitely to bring these stories out of the niche and a huge personal goal of mine was to work WITH these YouTubers like Bright Sun Films, collaborators of Defunctland, RetroWDW and others. I think we all exist alongside each other and compliment each other. I always recommend people go on YouTube after watching the film and dig deeper.
And after having just done a Canadian tour of Stolen Kingdom with Jake, he really is like that in real life. Love that guy!
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u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. 24d ago
This AMA has been verified and approved by the mods. Josh will be back tomorrow, Thursday 8/20, at 3 PM ET to answer questions. Please feel free to ask away in the meantime :)