Anyone who loves the YouTube channel Defunctland and its well-researched explorations into the strangest corners of the Disney Company’s history will want to make room in their calendars for “Stolen Kingdom,” a new documentary that explores a similarly obscure chapter of the Most Magical Place on Earth. The first trailer for the film was released April 14, giving a peak into the film’s portrait of obsessive Disney history collectors.
Directed by Joshua Bailey in his feature directorial debut, the 74-minute documentary follows the history of urban exploration around Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, and the people who break into closed or closing attractions around the park to document the infrastructure. Some of the figures covered include anonymous figures in the community, who documented and explored closed rides and attractions such as Horizons, Discovery Island, and River Country.
The meat of the documentary will focus on the 2018 arrest of Patrick Spikes, who at the age of 23, broke into the closed Cranium Command ride at Walt Disney World’s Epcot park and stole an animatronic nicknamed Buzzy. From the arrest, it came out that Spikes, an employee at the park at the time, stole $14,000 worth of props and costumes from the resort and sold them as memorabilia online. Spikes will appear in an interview in the film to discuss the case.
“Stolen Kingdom” first premiered in February 2025, at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. It had a long festival run throughout the year, also playing at Slamdance and serving as the opening film for the Florida Film Festival and Sidewalk Film Festival. The film was produced by Brandon Pickering, Colin Alexander, Slate Wayne, and Sam Fraser, and is a co-production between the production companies Bright Sun Films and White Lake Productions.
“Stolen Kingdom” is the first film distributed by new distributor Antenna Films. The movie will open in Los Angeles at the Laemmle North Hollywood theater on May 21. The film will then undergo a national roadshow rollout, opening gradually in 20+ cities including New York, Chicago, and Nashville.
Watch the complete trailer for “Stolen Kingdom,” an IndieWire exclusive, below.