Universal GB - Archived Post Announcement Discussion

[Blackrock]

Perhaps it will be tested in court, but in recent years the Tolkien Estate and other family members have raised no objections to JRR's work appearing in various forms. After the out of court settlement over the original Peter Jackson trilogy there were no further objections to The Hobbit trilogy. The Rings of Power was an amicable agreement, and one of Tolkien's grandsons, Simon Tolkien, worked as a consultant on the series. The LotR musical is currently appearing in various countries (coming to Plymouth next year - go see it, it's excellent). The Bag End exterior location set in New Zealand is an authorised 'location based experience'. I think the Tolkien Estate are way more relaxed about JRR's work these days, and if they get a cut of the rights money from Universal I think that's morally correct (given that JRR Tolkien originally sold the rights for peanuts), even if not strictly necessary in law.

Having seen the artwork published yesterday and the endless commentary on it, the only thing that really excites me is the possibility of a LotR land. If they come up with something which resembles Majid Sarmast's concept art for Universal from a few year's back I'm going to be super happy.

The rings of power was a mess because the estate were so hard to work with. They could only use notes or something like that instead of the actual stories.

If theme park rights are owned by a different entity this should be different, but Amazon were hamstrung massively from the beginning and they paid billions for sweet FA. That’s why certain characters or areas were and will never be included in the TV show.

They could work off notes and notes only.

 

[Visma]

There’s a compelling case for building the park in the UK and specifically somewhere close to the capital. London has been in the top 3 most visited cities in the world in both 2023 and 2024.

The UK ranks pretty high overall in international visitor numbers too. 41.2M in 2024 and growing each year with France a quick Eurostar away regularly holding the title of most visited country in the world (90M visitors in 2024).

With Universals budget, the marketing for this could be huge and attract a lot of international tourism!

 

[tech]

There’s a compelling case for building the park in the UK and specifically somewhere close to the capital. London has been in the top 3 most visited cities in the world in both 2023 and 2024.

The UK ranks pretty high overall in international visitor numbers too. 41.2M in 2024 and growing each year with France a quick Eurostar away regularly holding the title of most visited country in the world (90M visitors in 2024).

With Universals budget, the marketing for this could be huge and attract a lot of international tourism!

International tourism is what Universal are really hanging their hat on here with the government. Bringing a huge investment into the country which will also attract outside cash is something that will get Starmer posing with you next to an easel much more than a US company setting up shop here purely to extract cash from the British public.

 

[rob@rar]

The rings of power was a mess because the estate were so hard to work with. They could only use notes or something like that instead of the actual stories.

If theme park rights are owned by a different entity this should be different, but Amazon were hamstrung massively from the beginning and they paid billions for sweet FA. That’s why certain characters or areas were and will never be included in the TV show.

They could work off notes and notes only.

Indeed, which shows the very restricted limits that the Tolkien Estate have on the sprawling Middle Earth IP created by JRR Tolkien after he sold the majority of rights to his work in 1968.

One thing that does puzzle me is that we know Universal Creative started the initial work in 2021 on designing what will eventually become the new park in Bedford, which was one year before Embracer bought the Middle Earth rights. Did Universal try to buy those rights and fail? Or did they already have an outline agreement with Embracer about using those rights in a theme park?

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

I don't think any Merlin property needs to worry if they keep investing and improving. They should shift the market to value and get rid of that terrible catering company...

I think the main looser will be DLP... The main park has been decades without any new rides, and the audience is going to get board with "look we have another show" (that will have dancers cut halfway through the run).

With the expansion at adventure / studios it's taken 6+ years for 3 new cloned rides (Spiderman/frozen/teacups) nothing groundbreaking. Then add 3+ more years for lion king. While I'm sure the ride will be good I'd expect the majority be in french which is another hurdle for an international audience. Compared to a shiny park.

Adventure/Studios will still be a park that's lacking and aging.

The main park needs some serious investment too...

It's coasters will all need a re track in the next decade. They opened up at a similar time and run 365. With all the major refurbished rides like phantom, iasm, pirates, refurbishment ran year+ longer than planned.

If your making a choice as an international visitor your more likely going to want to visit the new park and more likely going to understand English than French.

Also isn't the next park in Paris due in the next decade? If it's another money saving park like studios was then the short term gain will be minimal.

 

[Benjsh]

From: https://youtu.be/_W10b7jlXd4?si=U-PWG5Wom1LumzBE


Interesting video from Nerd of the Rings about the LOTR rumours.

He's spotted that the headline for the BBC article has changed 3 times already and no longer mentions LOTR in it. However it's still mentioned in the body of the article interestingly.

Have the BBC got some duff info or have they been told to take it off by Universal I wonder? Why else would they take it out of their headline but leave it in the article?

To me this just further backs up the theory of the red herring area in the NE part of the park. I still think they are holding something big back personally. Either they work out a deal with Warner for Potter or they go with LOTR in my opinion. Anything else would be such a let down. Not convinced Shrek is going to be enough to fill the Potter void at all.

 

[Bowser]

I don't think any Merlin property needs to worry if they keep investing and improving. They should shift the market to value and get rid of that terrible catering company...

I think the main looser will be DLP... The main park has been decades without any new rides, and the audience is going to get board with "look we have another show" (that will have dancers cut halfway through the run).

With the expansion at adventure / studios it's taken 6+ years for 3 new cloned rides (Spiderman/frozen/teacups) nothing groundbreaking. Then add 3+ more years for lion king. While I'm sure the ride will be good I'd expect the majority be in french which is another hurdle for an international audience. Compared to a shiny park.

Adventure/Studios will still be a park that's lacking and aging.

The main park needs some serious investment too...

It's coasters will all need a re track in the next decade. They opened up at a similar time and run 365. With all the major refurbished rides like phantom, iasm, pirates, refurbishment ran year+ longer than planned.

If your making a choice as an international visitor your more likely going to want to visit the new park and more likely going to understand English than French.

Also isn't the next park in Paris due in the next decade? If it's another money saving park like studios was then the short term gain will be minimal.

DLP is sold out multiple days next week so its popularity appears to be enduring despite the lack of new attractions.

I think they have far more leeway than most because they are a “once in a lifetime” destination so there isn’t the expectation for regular new attractions.

They also have a LOT to do, you can stay multiple days and still miss a lot. Unless there are 3 hour queues for everything Universal aren’t going to be able to offer that, their parks tend to operate on a smaller selection of high quality attractions.

If they can happily co-exist in the same city, I don’t think neighbouring countries is going to prove overly detrimental.

 

[rob666]

The BBC article mentions what is "expected" doesn't it?
Thoosies have taken that as confirmed.
And the concept art is just that...and done to keep the community discussing it.

 

[Benjsh]

The BBC article mentions what is "expected" doesn't it?
Thoosies have taken that as confirmed.
And the concept art is just that...and done to keep the community discussing it.

Says a source close to project also tbf.

Who knows what's real and what isn't. All I'm saying is I think going without Potter and replacing it with Shrek would be a colossal fall from grace.

 

[rob666]

Says a source close to project also tbf...

That could be anyone in Bedfordshire!
The BBC does not have the resources it used to...a quick internet trawl and weasel words are all that's required.

 

[Quantum]

Bare in mind that NDAs are in place and Universal will want to keep some elements under wraps for a later date. I wouldn't be surprised to see and updated park map in the next couple of years one construction kicks off.

The planning docs will be the big giveaway as to how accurate the original plan is.

 

[Blackrock]

I don't think any Merlin property needs to worry if they keep investing and improving. They should shift the market to value and get rid of that terrible catering company...

I think the main looser will be DLP... The main park has been decades without any new rides, and the audience is going to get board with "look we have another show" (that will have dancers cut halfway through the run).

With the expansion at adventure / studios it's taken 6+ years for 3 new cloned rides (Spiderman/frozen/teacups) nothing groundbreaking. Then add 3+ more years for lion king. While I'm sure the ride will be good I'd expect the majority be in french which is another hurdle for an international audience. Compared to a shiny park.

Adventure/Studios will still be a park that's lacking and aging.

The main park needs some serious investment too...

It's coasters will all need a re track in the next decade. They opened up at a similar time and run 365. With all the major refurbished rides like phantom, iasm, pirates, refurbishment ran year+ longer than planned.

If your making a choice as an international visitor your more likely going to want to visit the new park and more likely going to understand English than French.

Also isn't the next park in Paris due in the next decade? If it's another money saving park like studios was then the short term gain will be minimal.

The next park is technically due but the deadline has been an extended before. Who knows if they’ll ever build it

 

[Skyscraper]

The Mirror seem to think that this is "a volcano"

Live volcano'​

One of the features in the park that immediately draws the eye of anyone looking at the map is a giant volcano simulation. The jaw-dropping attraction looks set to be one of the park's most impressive features.

Towering over the landscape, the map appears to show the 'volcano' erupting with dramatic burst of steam and "lava" - creating a truly blockbuster experience for guests. Though it's hard to tell from the concept art maps, the colvano appears to be surrounded by a pool of water in a structure that rises above the park's skyline.

Situated at the rear of the park, it seems likely that the scale of the structure will make it visible not just from the park's entrance across the central lake, but across much of the sprawling park.

 

[Blackrock]

This thread is interesting.


From: https://x.com/tommyhawkins/status/1910089037706121645


Huge expansion pads for the future.

 

[JT01]

Says a source close to project also tbf.

Who knows what's real and what isn't. All I'm saying is I think going without Potter and replacing it with Shrek would be a colossal fall from grace.

This is exactly what I’ve been saying, there’s no way they’re planning to rely solely on Jurassic Park as the main anchor IP for this park, right? While the Back to the Future land sounds exciting, especially with the new coaster, it’s actually a pretty small area, basically just a square and let’s be honest, as much as fans love it, that IP is fairly niche in today’s landscape.


Universal’s two biggest, most crowd pulling IPs right now are undeniably Harry Potter and Nintendo. And with neither of those coming to this park, it’s hard to believe they’d double down on more kid centric properties by putting a Shrek themed land right next to a Minions area. That feels quite underwhelming for what’s supposed to be a flagship Universal park for europe.


It really makes me think they must be holding back a major IP reveal something more universally appealing or at least with more depth and immersive potential. Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself that something bigger is coming, but it feels unlikely that they’d invest so much into a park without a stronger lineup of high-profile, broad-appeal franchises. Here's hoping this is all just a case of strategic secrecy and not the full picture

There was quite a bit of difference from beijing's initial concept to the final concept so who knows.

 

[Benjsh]

This is exactly what I’ve been saying, there’s no way they’re planning to rely solely on Jurassic Park as the main anchor IP for this park, right? While the Back to the Future land sounds exciting, especially with the new coaster, it’s actually a pretty small area, basically just a square and let’s be honest, as much as fans love it, that IP is fairly niche in today’s landscape.


Universal’s two biggest, most crowd pulling IPs right now are undeniably Harry Potter and Nintendo. And with neither of those coming to this park, it’s hard to believe they’d double down on more kid centric properties by putting a Shrek themed land right next to a Minions area. That feels quite underwhelming for what’s supposed to be a flagship Universal park for europe.


It really makes me think they must be holding back a major IP reveal something more universally appealing or at least with more depth and immersive potential. Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself that something bigger is coming, but it feels unlikely that they’d invest so much into a park without a stronger lineup of high-profile, broad-appeal franchises. Here's hoping this is all just a case of strategic secrecy and not the full picture

There was quite a bit of difference from beijing's initial concept to the final concept so who knows.

I tend to agree. Either the 'Shrek' area is a red herring and they are holding something big back.
Or.....
The huge Green coaster area isn't in fact connected to Jurassic World area at all and is in fact a separate area entirely. This is also a possibility at this point.

The planning documents will obviously reveal more and we should have those within the next 9-12 months I'd say. Whatever they build it will be impressive though and we will all visit frequently I'm sure......However I do think to not be able to build a Potterverse and basically give us nothing else major to fill the void would be a major own goal.

I'm going to cling on the LOTR dream for now. Lots of projects in the works across gaming consoles, live action and animated movies and also the TV series Rings of Power makes me think they are open to Theme Park attractions finally too. Only Universal n Disney could pull it off too and out of the two Universal seem far better suited.

 

[benpicko]

This thread is interesting.


From: https://x.com/tommyhawkins/status/1910089037706121645


Huge expansion pads for the future.

That’s very convincing and essentially bang on matches the areas in their master plan

 

[James]

I've mentioned LOTR to a few people, and they have reacted very positively to it as an IP. So there's certainly interest there.

I would have my bets on Wicked/Wizard of Oz for a 'big reveal' IP.

 

[Blackrock]

I tend to agree. Either the 'Shrek' area is a red herring and they are holding something big back.
Or.....
The huge Green coaster area isn't in fact connected to Jurassic World area at all and is in fact a separate area entirely. This is also a possibility at this point.

The planning documents will obviously reveal more and we should have those within the next 9-12 months I'd say. Whatever they build it will be impressive though and we will all visit frequently I'm sure......However I do think to not be able to build a Potterverse and basically give us nothing else major to fill the void would be a major own goal.

I'm going to cling on the LOTR dream for now. Lots of projects in the works across gaming consoles, live action and animated movies and also the TV series Rings of Power makes me think they are open to Theme Park attractions finally too. Only Universal n Disney could pull it off too and out of the two Universal seem far better suited.

I’d like to think we’ll get the planning documents before July tbh, especially if they want to start building next year.

They have after all had 12 months to prepare the planning documents in the background.

 

[Skyscraper]

I tend to agree. Either the 'Shrek' area is a red herring and they are holding something big back.
Or.....
The huge Green coaster area isn't in fact connected to Jurassic World area at all and is in fact a separate area entirely. This is also a possibility at this point.

I've seen some people suggesting that the green coaster could be Wicked-themed. Univeral have said in the past that they would love to add it to one of their parks one day, and Univeral UK could be the golden opportunity.