By the Numbers: Captain EO

100

Length of the sentence (in years) that the Supreme Leader passes on Captain EO. Calling them infidels (“You infect my world with your presence!”) and sentences Captain EO is sent to her deepest dungeon for a century of torture. (The rest of the crew got off slightly better; they were sentenced to be turned into trash cans!).

1

Number of times the movies appeared on network television. Several years after the attraction originally opened, it was shown in 2D on MTV. It has not aired again since, nor has it officially been issued on home video, although bootleg videos exist.

11

Projected budget, in millions of dollars. That sounds like a lot (and it is) but just get ready for this…

23.7

Final production cost of Captain EO, in millions of dollars. That translates to approximately $67,539,000 today. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever produced on a per-minute basis, averaging out at $1.76 million per minute. (By comparison, the current record holder for Most Expensive Movie Ever Produced is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which cost $3.24 million per minute to make.)

17

Length of the show, in minutes. This was the same length as Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, but three minutes longer than the theater’s opening day show, Magic Journeys.

150

Number of special effects created for the film. That sounds like quite a lot and it is, considering that early estimations were that they would “only” need 40.

2

Number of songs composed by Michael Jackson included in the film. The first, “We Are Here to Change the World” (co-written with John Barnes), was not officially released until 2004 as part of Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection. The version used for Captain EO was a shorter edit of the full-length song. The other song was an early mix of “Another Part of Me,” which later appeared on Jackson’s 1987 album Bad in remixed form and was subsequently released as a single. It was the sixth single pulled from the album and rose to #11 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

6

Number of crew members under the command of Captain EO. They include Idy and Ody, the double-headed pilot, the bumbling elephant-esque Hooter, security chief Major Domo, his sidekick, Minor Domo, and, of course, the lovable Fuzzball.

16

Number of years between the end of Captain EO’s first run at EPCOT and its return. Epcot Vice President Dan Cockerell was in attendance to mark the show’s return, and he took to the podium to give a short introduction. He specifically thanked Joe Tankersley, Show Producer, and Debbie Peterson, Art Director, both Walt Disney Imagineering. “On July 6, it will be exactly 16 years since the last time Captain EO was shown at Epcot. Let’s go back to 1986!”