
“So, we divided the park into complementary lands that highlight the stories in tonally, experientially different ways.” “In essence, it’s actually a single-franchise park, but we found that the Chinese audience gravitated towards different parts of the 100-odd chapters of the original novel for different reasons,” Cobb said. Thinkwell based the design of the 100-acre Monkey Kingdom theme park in Beijing on the Chinese stories of the Monkey King in the 16th century book “Journey to the West,” Cobb said. This might feel more organic than adding blockbuster worlds to parks with an existing or even conflicting concepts.” “This park would organize itself around these mega-franchises in a logical way. “Imagine if Disney created a sci-fi kingdom where Avatar, Star Wars and Marvel lived together,” Young said. Universal could develop themed lands based on “Shrek,” “Jurassic Park,” “Fast & Furious,” “Despicable Me,” “Terminator,” “The Mummy” and “Men in Black.” Even Six Flags could get in on the trend with individual “Batman,” “Superman,” “Justice League” and “Suicide Squad” lands based on the DC Comics super heroes and villains. Other possibilities for Disney include lands based on “Monsters Inc.,” “Finding Nemo” and “Ratatouille.” A Marvel-themed land has long been the subject of speculation at Disney’s California Adventure. “We’re hoping an ‘Incredibles’ blockbuster world is on the drawing boards,” Brent Young, president and creative director of Super 78, a Los Angeles-based theme park design firm, said in an email. There are still plenty of major franchises controlled by Disney and Universal that could be turned into theme park lands. The list of unclaimed but enduring franchises is short: James Bond, “Game of Thrones,” “Twilight,” “Chronicles of Narnia,” “Planet of the Apes,” “The Matrix” and “Doctor Who.” Other properties have struck deals with smaller theme parks: “Hunger Games” (at the new Motiongate Dubai), “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Minnesota’s Nickelodeon Universe), “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible” (London Paramount park opening in 2021) and “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” (Spain’s the Shire opening in 2018). The trend could define the Disney-Universal rivalry for the foreseeable future and trigger a land rush for the remaining intellectual properties powerful enough to attract a sizable audience.Ĭomcast’s recent acquisition of DreamWorks Animation puts the “Kung Fu Panda” and “Ice Age” franchises in the Universal column. Universal is borrowing from Islands of Adventure’s single-franchise approach for its new park in Beijing, which will have Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, Madagascar and Shrek lands when it opens in 2019 or 2020. Up next: Arendelle (“Frozen”) at Tokyo DisneySea and Pandora (“Avatar”) at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 2017, Star Wars Land at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2018 (or later) and a Nintendo land at Universal Studios Japan in 2020. Other parks have followed the trend: Toy Story Land at Walt Disney Studios Park in France, “Shrek” and “Madagascar” lands at Universal Studios Singapore and an entire theme park dedicated to Ferrari sports cars in Abu Dhabi. In recent years, Cars Land raced into Disney’s California Adventure in 2012, the Potter-themed Diagon Alley materialized at Universal Studios Florida in 2014 and Treasure Cove (“Pirates of the Caribbean”) showed up this summer at Shanghai Disneyland in China. Yesterday’s Star Tours motion-simulator rides will soon be superseded by tomorrow’s Star Wars Lands at Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida that will let visitors step into remote spaceports at the edge of the galaxy.
NINTENDO LAND UNIVERSAL MAP CALIFORNIA MOVIE
In the post-Potter world it is no longer enough to build a ride based on a movie like “Transformers,” “Iron Man” or “Finding Nemo.” You have to be able to walk into the world and inhabit it. “The films and books were such an incredibly rich world it would have been impossible to encompass in a single attraction,” Dave Cobb, vice president of creative development at Thinkwell, a Los Angeles-based theme park design firm, said in an email.
NINTENDO LAND UNIVERSAL MAP CALIFORNIA SERIES
The Potter series wasn’t an endless chain of sequels, prequels or reboots but rather a cohesive world built around a long-form story beloved by fans.
