"Disneyland Handcrafted" Documentary Gets a (Tiny) Theatrical Run Before its Disney+ and YouTube Debut

Though Disneyland Handcrafted is coming to Disney+ and YouTube on January 22, eager fans can check it out a week earlier, as the terrific documentary focused on the construction of the original Disneyland is getting a surprise theatrical run... Albeit in just one theater.

What's Happening:

• For those looking up movie options playing in Los Angeles this weekend, there is a pleasant surprise to be found on AMCTheatres.com, because Disneyland Handcrafted has an entry on the theater chain's website - though only for one single theater in the United States.
• Disney Parks Blog mentioned the film's theatrical showings in a new entry, writing "Disneyland Handcrafted is coming to AMC Burbank Town Center 8 for a limited-time theatrical run from January 14 through January 20, 2026!"
• Currently, you can only find pre-sale tickets for the Thursday and Friday showings, but presumably the other days will be added soon. Making the situation a bit more odd, you can't find a listing for the film, nor evidence of its Burbank showings, on Fandango, so you'll need to use AMC's website if you want to pre-order tickets.
• So why is this happening at all? It's likely this is at least partially an Academy Awards qualifying run, which sounds funny, given this would be for next year's Oscars thanks to the timing, but it's still not so unusual. These days, many movies made for streaming do get a tiny theatrical release first just to be safe in case an awards campaign ends up happening down the line.
• As for the specific theater chosen, it's worth noting that this one and only theater playing the documentary is in Burbank, which of course just so happens to be where Disney's main offices and backlot are located - making it easy for employees to hop on over to see a movie focused on such an integral part of the company's history, should the choose to do so.
• In his review off Disneyland Handcrafted, Laughing Place's Ben Breitbart writes, "While its release on YouTube and Disney+ makes it easily accessible, this is not a documentary meant for casual, distracted viewing. Do not watch it on your phone. Seek out the largest screen you can, turn off your other devices, and let yourself be fully absorbed."
• Having seen the documentary myself at the same screening on the Disney lot, I agree both with the rave review and the fact that Disneyland Handcrafted absolutely benefits from a big screen thanks to its remarkable vintage footage of Disneyland being built from the ground up in 1954-1955.
• All of which is to say that while it's a shame it's not accessible to way more fans, if you can get to Burbank this coming week, beginning on Thursday, I'd highly recommend making it to one of film's showings.
• Disneyland Handcrafted is directed by Leslie Iwerks (The Imagineering Story) and focuses on the construction of Disneyland under the supervision of Walt Disney himself and through the hard work of hundreds of talented craftspeople.
• To complete the film, Iwerks unearthed never-before-seen footage and original audio recordings from the Walt Disney Film Archives.