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Potential New Universal UK Park

tayspru said:
LOTR would be far less likely than any of the other franchises mentioned. It’s not nearly as mainstream, with a real lack of crossover appeal to the masses. It’s a geek property through and through
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I don’t see how a franchise in which every instalment has banked either just over or just under a billion could be seen as “lacking in crossover appeal to the masses?” Sure, it’s a decade or so since the last Hobbit and the Amazon show is arguably diminishing returns, but Potter aside, these numbers would surely suggest the safest bet for a British theme park?
 
Plastic Person said:
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I don’t see how a franchise in which every instalment has banked either just over or just under a billion could be seen as “lacking in crossover appeal to the masses?” Sure, it’s a decade or so since the last Hobbit and the Amazon show is arguably diminishing returns, but Potter aside, these numbers would surely suggest the safest bet for a British theme park?
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Money from a select faction of the population doesn’t translate to a cultural zeitgeist. They were very popular within their large fandom but in the scheme of things, LOTR isn’t in the same conversation

To boil it down to something perhaps trivial, but absolutely reflective of the general public in the U.K., think of somewhere like Primark - they select brands that have broad appeal, to guarantee good sales and make them accessible to casual fans. The people who have a passing awareness or enjoyment but don’t ever go beyond that to go out of their way to purchase branded items from dedicated sellers (your forbidden planet / geek core type shops)

Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Wicked, Friends, Wallace and Gromit, these have all made appearances in Primark

LoTR never reached that level of *casual* consumption, and those people are ultimately the target of theme parks. If the general public wouldn’t even go out of their way to buy a t shirt or mug of LoTR, it certainly isn’t likely to translate to theme park success

(Even Disney banked on Galactic Starcruiser surviving off the dedicated, non casual star wars fans, and look what happened there)
 
It’s impossible to make that much money, six times over, with just a “select faction” of the population. ‘The Substance’ just made money with a select faction of the population. Lord of The Rings is a juggernaut.

The way IP is exploited has developed and evolved since LoTR was at the absolute peak of its popularity, but the films contributed a number of genuinely iconic images and phrases - “my precious”, “you shall not pass”, and even “one does not simply…” - that I (not a fantasy geek), still see and hear referenced today, as well as on plenty of shirts at the time. To use an arbitrary example in parallel with your Primark theory, they must surely be amongst the consistently and visibly meme-ified media in history. This audience also buys theme park tickets.

tayspru said:
(Even Disney banked on Galactic Starcruiser surviving off the dedicated, non casual star wars fans, and look what happened there)
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It cost $2000 a night to experience.
 
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Things like Paddington and Wicked could have incredibly popular attractions or similar, but don’t think there’s enough there to sustain a whole world (especially with Paddington).
 
Action/ Adventure films lend themselves better to theme park area and rides. I can't think of what type of rides or attractions they would have in a Wicked themed area.

There are several ride ideas for LOTR, it's also been rumoured that Universal has the theme park rights
 
benpicko said:
Not sure how it's a debate that Lord of the Rings is massive. 6 films that made around a billion dollars each, the twelfth highest grossing film franchise ever, and 25 million viewers for the Amazon show in the first 24 hours, the biggest ever for Amazon.
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It’s not a debate that it makes a large amount of money or has high viewership. But how many of those people are likely to actually leave their houses and go to a theme park ? It’s always been a geek property is my point, it isn’t as mainstream as others mentioned and certainly doesn’t have appeal for kids

Another thing to consider, is that it would be an enormous cost to faithfully recreate those environments as the fans would expect. Whether that’s land cost for an expansive Hobbiton, or construction cost for the huge fantasy architecture. The question is would the cost be justified and, so far, the answer has been no. Universal has had rights for LotR for YEARS and has never pulled the trigger on it. We have to consider why that is the case
 
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tayspru said:
It’s not a debate that it makes a large amount of money or has high viewership. But how many of those people are likely to actually leave their houses and go to a theme park ? It’s always been a geek property is my point, it isn’t as mainstream as others mentioned and certainly doesn’t have appeal for kids
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Annual tourism to New Zealand grew massively after the release of Peter Jackson's trilogy and the films are recognised as a large part of the reason why. I can absolutely imagine people travelling to Universal UK to see a theme park version of Middle Earth
 
“Geek culture”, whatever that means in 2025, is mainstream. Nintendo, Marvel, Star Wars, all things that at one point might have fallen under that banner are incredibly successful and lo and behold all have theme park areas.

It’s also not uncommon for themes to target certain demographics. CBeebies, Peppa Pig etc so I don’t think that’s a reason to exclude LOTR. It’s certainly not going to deter people and quite frankly the notion that people who watch LOTR won’t leave their house let alone visit a theme park is absurd.
 
Again, LotR is not in the same league as Nintendo Marvel and Star Wars, not least when it comes to merchandising and general brand familiarity. If all this was right and I’m way off base, then why have Universal yet to do anything with the IP?

They have the connections, they have money, what’s stopping them?

They have already deemed it a poor use of resources time and time again over the last few decades. It was mooted for IoA as an opening day land based on the books - didn’t happen. It was mooted to replace lost continent, fresh off the success of the most recent movies- didn’t happen. It was rumoured for Epic Universe - didn’t happen. If they won’t risk it on their existing parks it’s even less likely it will be a tentpole for their brand new venture in a new territory
 
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Star Wars is a declining brand so I'm not sure I'd use that one. Nintendo world is made up of multiple IPs as it Marvel to some extent.

What about a Sonic themed area? That would work well and has a strong aesthetic.
 
tayspru said:
The question is would the cost be justified and, so far, the answer has been no. Universal has had rights for LotR for YEARS and has never pulled the trigger on it. We have to consider that.
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Universal do not have the rights to anything in the Tolkien estate. They have been strongly rumoured to be in discussions in the past, but there’s no deal, at least not publicly.
 
Plastic Person said:
Universal do not have the rights to anything in the Tolkien estate. They have been strongly rumoured to be in discussions in the past, but there’s no deal, at least not publicly.
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I should say associations, it’s been behind closed doors since the IoA days.

In fact, your point also makes me wonder, why pursue a property they don’t have rights to when they do have rights to others that would be suitable
 
tayspru said:
In fact, your point also makes me wonder, why pursue a property they don’t have rights to when they do have rights to others that would be suitable
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Who knows the details? As you say, it’s all behind closed doors. Perhaps the notoriously fickle Tolkien estate have asked Universal to refine their pitch? Maybe they didn’t want their property in the same park as Potter? I understand that Universal are interested in developing new experiences that won’t cannibalise their Florida audience in Europe, so perhaps they’re keeping their powder dry to debut the franchise recreation in the UK?

Whatever the reason, it’s one of the few untapped legitimate mega-franchises left, and I would be amazed if they didn’t still want to utilise it.
 
Like with many ideas for theme parks over the years, I'd wager that whilst there's been rumours or blue sky plans for anything LotR based, for whatever reason it's failed. Be it cost, Tolkien estate getting involved or alternative options coming up. Getting Potter would 100% be an idea killer.

I'm sure there's history of Universal pursuing DC based IPs over the years as well. So wouldn't be the first IP concept to never come to fruition.

I also don't think it'd (LotR) work well in a theme park environment. Just because of the vastness of the IP means narrowing it down to specific areas which aren't really that interesting. Not like Potter where the action is pretty limited to a small number of distinct areas (though I don't understand their implementation of France into the British Ministry for Epic Universe). Which is one reason Disney came up with Star Tours in the first place to avoid that as an issue.
 
Quantum said:
What about a Sonic themed area? That would work well and has a strong aesthetic.
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Sonic could work incredibly well if it is done in the vein of Super Nintendo World and is designed as a full area like Green Hill Zone.

There is an existing rollercoaster which would work very well cloned for that theme. Blue Fire at Europa Park. Incredible Hulk could work very well additionally.

I'd say a launched coaster with a vertical loop and other inversions like corkscrews, zero G roll would be the best flagship ride for a Sonic themed area.

I can imagine any park could take that one if not Universal.
 
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