Who ya gonna call? Disney and Universal could be facing some more competition from another studio-backed theme park franchise. Sony is officially throwing its hat into the ring after announcing its plans to get into the theme park business over three decades ago.
Sony seems to be literally testing the waters for its upcoming theme park ambitions with a rebranded water park in Thailand.
The park will be developed from an already-existing water park site in Bangsaray, about 90 minutes from Bangkok. Among the rides that will be featured are water coasters based on “Men in Black” and “Ghostbusters,” go-kart tracks based on “Bad Boys for Life” and kids areas based on Sony animated films like “Hotel Transylvania” and “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”
Jeffrey Godsick, Sony’s EVP of Global Partnerships and Brand Management and Head of Location Based Entertainment, told TheWrap that this is just the beginning.
“In addition to theme parks and several other individual attractions, we’re also working on an indoor entertainment center and several traveling exhibitions based on TV and movie projects,” Godsick said. “This is a 10-year, 20-year plan where you will see Sony expand into many forms of location-based entertainment.”
Sony had previously cut deals with other overseas parks such as Heide Park in Germany and Motiongate Dubai. This includes a “Ghostbusters” attraction at the latter.
Currently Sony properties can be found at Universal Studios in the States, with the Men in Black: Alien Attack attraction in Universal Orlando opening in 2000.
Ghostbusters was recently featured at Halloween Horror Nights 2019, and at a stage show called the Ghostbusters Spooktacular from 1990 to 1996.
With Sony announcing their own theme park plans, we have to wonder how long their properties will realistically remain in Universal theme parks.
It’s a good time to make the announcement, as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the much anticipated follow up to the original two Ghostbusters films, is hitting theaters later this year.
As a side note, Sony is also pushing heavily into anime. Anime-based attractions are incredibly popular at Universal in Japan, and the chances of getting a ride based on Sony IP such as “Demon Slayer” has just increased substantially.
Stay tuned for more details on Sony’s plan for theme park domination as we hear them.
[Source: TheWrap]
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