Disney hires a director for 'It's A Small World" film

© Steven Liebman

The attraction has been around for 50 years, now it's going to be a movie.

Disney has hired Jon Turteltaub to direct a movie based on "It's A Small World," Deadline.com has reported.

Turteltaub directed the first two installments of National Treasure and is working on a third with producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

It's A Small World debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair and after two years it moved to Disneyland in California and has been a staple at all Disneylands around the world.

The ride is best known for the song with its refrain "It's a Small World After All." The original concept for the ride had the dolls singing the national anthems from the various countries, but mix of music and lyrics did not work well. Instead, the Sherman Brothers wrote the song and translated into many languages and maintained the same music during the entire ride.