For Jas Khattra, the choice between going to Disneyland or Universal Studios was always an easy decision to make — even at the age of five.
“Universal Studios,” he said, laughing. “Mom and dad would always roll their eyes at me and say, ‘Jas, let’s visit Disneyland instead.’ Then I’d throw a fit until we went to Universal [Studios]. It didn’t always work but hell, I was five so it was worth a shot [laughs].”
At the age of 25, this SFU grad has taken his passion for the well-known theme park and turned it into something quite unexpected: a Kickstarter-funded documentary centred on scrapped Universal Studios rides, a project that Khattra promises is even more controversial than you would expect. The Peak recently caught up with Khattra to learn more about his daring documentary.
The Peak: So, Jas, tell us about the documentary.
Jas Khattra: It’s going to be about the Universal Studios no one knows about. The dark side, man.
P: The dark side?
JK: Hell yeah, It’s going to be about all this “behind-closed-doors” stuff. Bribes. Corruption. The rides they don’t want you to remember.
P: Can you disclose to The Peak one of the rides that was swept under the rug?
JK: Well, I shouldn’t. . . but I got to build up some hype for this thing somehow. I have significant proof and documentation about a ride that was going to feature Jaws and E.T. the extra-terrestrial teaming up in an audience interactive studio ride.
P: You’re kidding.
JK: I’m not even joking, man. It was going coincide with Spielberg’s scrapped reboot for Jaws. Jaws was supposed to be a sort of alien-shark hybrid and E.T. returned to Earth to stop him, but they team up in the end. It was totally bonkers.
P: How did you come across this information?
JK: When Sony had its leak, I found an email that referenced a long-forgotten Spielberg film which was going to cross market with an ill-fated Universal Studios ride. I snooped around some more and found an original handwritten proposal posted on an Instagram account by a temp who was sorting some files for the studio.
P: Wow. What else did you find when you were gathering information for this project?
JK: Well, attendance at Universal Studios has been down the last few years. As such, someone put forward the idea to cater to a more mature audience.
P: Meaning what exactly?
JK: What if I told you that at one point a 50 Shades of Grey ride was in development?
P: No. . .
JK: I’m absolutely serious. The repercussion of this project’s cancellation is still being felt at Universal Studios. It’s also lead to schism among management. Like I said, dark side.
P: Have you told anyone else about this? What were their initial reactions?
JK: People have looked at me like I’m crazy for doing this. And I totally get it. But if people knew even a fraction of some of the lousy ideas that get thrown around in a Universal Studios board room, it’s mind-blowing stuff.
P: Any projects on the back burner after this one concludes?
JK: I do actually, and I’m very excited about it. I plan to Kickstart another documentary on two corporate giants that have been secretly at war with each other since 2010.
P: And what companies are those?
JK: Lego and Minecraft.
Khattra is now accepting pledges online through Kickstarter for his documentary, The Good, The Scrapped, and The Ugly.
