A private collection three years in the making is now open for business. Reel Wheels Entertainment has publicly unveiled a catalog spanning hundreds of vehicles, aircraft, props, wardrobe pieces and memorabilia tied to some of the most recognizable properties in film and television history — and the company is actively seeking hospitality, resort, and destination-entertainment partners to build experiences around it.
CEO Aaron Phillips is positioning the collection not as a traditional museum but as a flexible content layer that hospitality operators and brand developers can integrate into their own programming. A concept rendering the company has circulated shows a café anchored by the actual "Hell's Chariot" from Paramount's Grease (1978), illustrating how screen-used vehicles could function as centerpieces for immersive dining and social experiences. The company says potential applications range from single high-impact brand activations to resort programming, touring entertainment, and permanent destination-scale attractions.
The Collection
The holdings include the original screen-used cockpit from Airplane!, an aircraft used in M\A\S\H*, a screen-used mid-engine Dodge Charger from F9: The Fast Saga, a production aircraft fuselage associated with Sully, an original production stunt proton pack from Ghostbusters, the Cannonball Run ambulance, and vehicles, props and wardrobe connected to Men in Black, among other titles. Provenance is identified asset by asset, and Reel Wheels distinguishes between original screen-used pieces, production-related artifacts, and recreations. The publicly displayed collection represents only a portion of its total holdings.
Jerry Zucker, co-writer and co-director of Airplane!, recently sat for an interview with the company about the cockpit piece and the enduring weight of physical filmmaking artifacts. "These objects also carry memories that belong to the audience as much as to us," Zucker said. "Seeing something real from the film brings that moment back. It connects people to a time in their own lives, not just to the movie."
Industry Veterans Behind It
The production team gives the venture real Hollywood credibility. Rick Carter, a two-time Academy Award-winning production designer whose credits include Avatar, Lincoln, Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump, serves as an advisor. Doug Meerdink, Chief Creative Officer, brings more than two decades in feature-film art direction and production design. Dennis McCarthy, founder of Vehicle Effects and a veteran picture-car specialist across more than 100 motion pictures — including extensive work on the Fast & Furious franchise, Batman v Superman and Avengers: Endgame — is also an advisor.
"Reel Wheels gives us the opportunity to extend cinematic storytelling beyond the screen," Meerdink said. "By placing extraordinary physical assets at the center of immersive environments, we can transport audiences directly into the stories they love."
Hospitality Angle
The pitch to operators is explicitly partner-first. "We don't expect a partner to build their vision around our collection," Phillips said. "Our job is to understand their vision and use our assets, designers and production capabilities to help make it extraordinary."
The company is also exploring international opportunities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, where investment in tourism, hospitality, and location-based entertainment is scaling rapidly. That international appetite aligns with a broader industry trend toward experience-driven hotel and resort programming that drives longer dwell times and higher per-guest spend.
For the hospitality industry, the Reel Wheels model represents a turnkey approach to IP-anchored experiential programming — one that doesn't require a studio licensing deal. The assets already exist, the talent to design around them is assembled, and the provenance documentation is in place. Whether that proposition resonates with resort developers and F&B operators looking to differentiate their venues will depend on how Phillips and his team structure partnership terms, which the company has not yet disclosed publicly.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
