Lionsgate are preparing to launch their first Asian theme park in the Greater Bay area of Hengqin, Zhuhai which is roughly an hour away from Hong Kong.
Featuring 22,000 square meters of indoor space, the park will host 25 attractions including six based on Lionsgate franchises: The Hunger Games, Twilight, the Divergent franchise, Now You See Me, Gods Of Egypt, and Escape Plan.
Deadline reports that the Hunger Games and Twilight attractions will feature ‘simulators’ (more info to know if this involves gladiatorial death matches and inescapable prison cells or not) while the Gods of Egypt will get a purpose-built, indoor VR rollercoaster while the Now You See Me attraction will predictably feature some live magic.
Jenefer Brown, Lionsgate’s SVP, Global Live and Location Based Entertainment had this to say:
“From escaping the Capitol, to braving the mental and physical challenges of Dauntless, to taking on a newborn vampire army with Jacob and the Wolf Pack, we can’t wait for fans to step into the worlds of their favourite films to create their own authentic adventures.”
It’s an interesting year for theme park reveals, with Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge recently opening and the announcement that Japan would create a theme park dedicated to the works of Studio Ghibli; personally I can’t think of many Lionsgate films that I’d want to interact with on a personal or VR level (okay, except for probably the Gods of Egypt VR coaster; that movie did have some pretty beautiful set pieces), but that shouldn’t subtract from the accomplishment of the park which does look like a worthy day spent dirt-biking next to some werewolves.
That said, Lionsgate also own Starz and I do kind of want to live out my fantasy of half-assing a party prep day job with Adam Scott.
It also looks as though it won’t be featuring any Saw attractions, likely due to some agreement with the Chinese government, but then again that’s another theme park element that’s probably hard to really grok without experiencing it.
The official launch for Lionsgate Entertainment World will be on the 31st of July 2019.
Anyone going to be in Hong Kong next month? Feel free to bring back some vampire heads for the SAW office.
What do you think of this new addition to the Lionsgate entertainment arena? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!