Universal's Epic Universe Wish List & Speculation

[Magic-Man]

I think people need to remember why expansions are built. To draw more people. I don’t think they would expand Nintendo before opening. Why waste your (theoretically) sure fire attendance boost and a large portion of your expansion area before the park opens.

Any subsequent Nintendo additions than what we see in the art will almost certainly come after this park opens

That makes sense, but what if they delayed Classic Monsters to open the Nintendo expansion first? It's a win-win either way.

 

[IOA Explorer]

That makes sense, but what if they delayed Classic Monsters to open the Nintendo expansion first? It's a win-win either way.

They're not going to rush the expansion of Nintendo. It'll be a few years down the line most likely. Let the crowds wind down and then build it to bring them back again. Plus, Universal wants to appeal to a variety of people and it wouldn't make sense for them to delay Monsters for years until after the Nintendo expansion opens. For people like me, Nintendo just doesn't do it for me. I want the variety over a double sized Nintendo land.

 

[JungleSkip]

That makes sense, but what if they delayed Classic Monsters to open the Nintendo expansion first? It's a win-win either way.

Because Monsters, no matter how good, Will almost certainly not drive an extra bump of visitation like more Nintendo would.

*Maybe* opening with more Nintendo would raise initial attendance, but it’d probably increase it more by opening later to bring in the Pokémon (or whatever) fans and get the double dip fans to return to see the new stuff

 

[RFRees]

Classic Monsters adds a nice balance of adult/older generation IPs with younger adult/kids IPs.

 

[Teebin]

Forgive me, but if the idea is that Universal Monsters is to feature the monsters from its classic (and very old) movies, isn’t that going to be a bit like Toon Lagoon? I just don’t see the allure of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff to anyone but the geekiest of monster geeks.

 

[Moose84]

Plus it’s classic monsters, Classic Monsters, it’s freaking CLASSIC freaking MONSTERS!!! “Please sir may I have some more” PLEASE

And I’m spent

 

[Legacy]

Forgive me, but if the idea is that Universal Monsters is to feature the monsters from its classic (and very old) movies, isn’t that going to be a bit like Toon Lagoon? I just don’t see the allure of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff to anyone but the geekiest of monster geeks.

Honestly, I think it'll have more of a Lost Continent vibe; mature, a little safe, but approachable.

From a "look" perspective, it definitely seems like it'll be something we've seen before. I can get the appeal. It fills a needed niche. But it will definitely be the slowest of the Worlds.

 

[Nico]

Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror are two of Disney’s most beloved rides. Take either one, and include monsters that literally everyone knows and it’ll be popular. Every Halloween decoration, costume, children’s drawing of “Frankenstein” looks like the Universal version of the creature. I think we don’t realize how deeply embedded those original designs are. This land isn’t about old movies, it’s about iconic characters.

 

[RFRees]

Forgive me, but if the idea is that Universal Monsters is to feature the monsters from its classic (and very old) movies, isn’t that going to be a bit like Toon Lagoon? I just don’t see the allure of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff to anyone but the geekiest of monster geeks.

I'm hoping that it's more of the spirit of the IPs/characters (and very dark) rather than an exact clone. If you watch them now there is some cringiness that were could do without.

 

[emsvcs3]

I appreciate the classic horror stuff even though it’s not necessarily my thing. Considering how important the old monster films were to Universal’s overall legacy and how recognizable all of the characters still are, I think that they’re definitely deserving of a substantial presence in the parks. I’m also wary of just milking current top ten properties because so many of them are completely transient.

 

[shiekra38]

Horror is deeply embedded into Universal's roots...It's their version of Fantasyland in my opinion

 

[rageofthegods]

Tangential, but I'm wondering if Blumhouse's new Dark Universe is gonna try to include more obscure creatures like The Mad Ghoul or the Poe movies, or if they're gonna try to bring new monsters/authors into the UCM brand like Lovecraft, Blackwood (Wendigo), LeFanu, Machen, The Events of Poroth Farm or Harvest Home or something.

If so, I was wondering if they'd use the Monsters land to try and promote some of these new additions, same way Marvel Comics likes to push reprints and new storylines whenever they're planning to introduce new characters to the MCU. It could be a good way to get some S Y N E R G Y going.

 

[rastuso]

Disney has in-house due to their scale/licensing and are certainly the industry leader; if for no reason other than the money they spend on them. They put a major emphasis on it. But they also subcontract out plenty, in particular their "less advanced" ones and even use the same companies as Universal (Creature Tech, Global Creatures, Garner).

Universal just hasn't spent the money. But when they do, you get really good ones like Kong.

Truthfully, as I've mentioned ad nauseum; Universal can't spend as much because they don't get the ROI. The number of rooms and attendance in Orlando alone are dwarfed. Vouple that with a significantly higher worldwide attendance and park presence for Disney, and it just isn't in Universal's cards to break the bank for animatronics. Disney can and does. I'd expect the third park to outshine IoA and USF and wouldn't be surprised to see a "showcase AA" appear like Yeti (RIP), Shaman, Hondo, BatB Japan, etc.

Universal has their own shaman in Kong that is pretty good, plus the Sorting Hat. It's not like WDW has been really blowing folks away with AAs lately. Olaf is done quite well, but the glowhead sisters not so much. The Shaman gets praise, but the reason it does, as well as HOndo, is that they are NOT human. It is much easier to make a convincing non-human AAs. I mean people acted like the floating Navi was one of the greatest AAs ever too. But... It's not. Hell, I'll take the Mummy over that one any day.

BatB Belle looks to truly be a WOW animatron. No glow head, and stunningly exact copy of the movie.

I'm sure this park will focus on a LOT of Disney's things. A huge fireworks show, scary dark rides with lots of AAs, a boat ride, and plenty for little kids.

The only ride system I'd say they really phoned in was Fallon's. The only reason to go for that one instead of a Flying Theater or something similar is to save money

But Fallon was targeted as a C/D ticket surely. Just a cheap replacement for Twister that had ran its course on many levels. I'd look at it as just a reason to bring NBC merch into the parks. It likely already has some replacement ideas around it.

 

[belloq87]

Horror is deeply embedded into Universal's roots...

Their first wave of talkie horror films in the early-mid 1930s essentially saved the studio, and the subsequent wave in the early-mid 1940s kept the studio profitable. Without the Classic Monsters (and their other horror fare), it's quite possible Universal wouldn't have made it beyond those decades. They're legitimately that important to the company's history.

Tangential, but I'm wondering if Blumhouse's new Dark Universe is gonna try to include more obscure creatures like The Mad Ghoul or the Poe movies, or if they're gonna try to bring new monsters/authors into the UCM brand like Lovecraft, Blackwood (Wendigo), LeFanu, Machen, The Events of Poroth Farm or Harvest Home or something.

I like the ambition, but Universal needs to prove they can make one good movie based off of their known characters first before digging deeper!

 

[Andysol]

Universal has their own shaman in Kong that is pretty good, plus the Sorting Hat. It's not like WDW has been really blowing folks away with AAs lately.

The Mummy AA over the shaman? Oh jeez...

“Not impressed with Hondo or Navi’i because non-human animatronics are easy to make, but that sorting hat and Mummy... now that’s animatronics at their finest”.
Ps- Kong, a Mummy and a hat are also non-Human. And the praise that Disney’s high end AA aren’t because they aren’t human. It’s because they have life-like movements. And they are incredible. It’s kind of hard to make a case against them without appearing as if you’re grasping at straws.

It’s not even a question of who has the better AAs and I gave the reason. Size of scale based on park size/attendance as well as the overall number of parks worldwide. The new park will bring Universal and UOR closer to scale. It’s simply money and ROI.

The fact that the sorting hat is the 2nd best you can come up with should rest my case.

 

[rastuso]

The Mummy AA over the shaman? Oh jeez...

“Not impressed with Hondo or Navi’i because non-human animatronics are easy to make, but that sorting hat and Mummy... now that’s animatronics at their finest”.
Ps- Kong, a Mummy and a hat are also non-Human. And the praise that Disney’s high end AA aren’t because they aren’t human. It’s because they have life-like movements. And they are incredible. It’s kind of hard to make a case against them without appearing as if you’re grasping at straws.

It’s not even a question of who has the better AAs and I gave the reason. Size of scale based on park size/attendance as well as the overall number of parks worldwide. The new park will bring Universal and UOR closer to scale. It’s simply money and ROI.

The fact that the sorting hat is the 2nd best you can come up with should rest my case.

The big miss I made, obviously, were the Gringott's Goblins. Like, what 11 of them? And they all look fantastic. Not as fantastic as a big group of Stormtroopers, I'll admit, but still not bad.

The sorting hat looks exactly like the sorting hat. Kong's Witch is on par with new Disney stuff. The Pandora Shaman has smooth movements, but that is what she was designed for, essentially. Her face is no big deal, as it's not human, and can be smooth. I honestly think the Olaf and Sebastian AAs are more impressive. Or Lemuir (sp?). They are all small, but look exactly as they should. Sorta like the hat!

Neither company has tried many human AAs since Indy. Johnny Depp, I guess. Walt helped invent AAs 50 years ago, so Disney probably should be better. But as others have stated, they don't do it all in-house anymore. They will still claim they made the upgrades to skin textures. Who knows who really did. If Disney pays for another company to do skin texture upgrades, Disney has their name on the patent, as they paid for the research.

The other companies already listed, and Life Formations, make incredible AAs. Universal simply hasn't chosen to use a lot of them. I think that will change at EU. I expect an AA extravaganza in essentially every World. Maybe not the new Potter land, as you then again have to do human AAs

 

[Arno]

hi,

I analyzed the "Fantastic beasts" land.
For me, it's about Paris ( Inspired by the second movie)
The buildings are inspired by Paris of 1920 (Universal Exhibition 1920's )
The big building around the hub looks a lot like the theme (glass cupola)
The buildings in the area look more like Paris than New York, especially the rooftops.

 

[Ryan]

CoG was a flop, so I highly doubt it's based on the second film anymore.

 

[Arno]

CoG was a flop, so I highly doubt it's based on the second film anymore.

Worldwide BOX OFFICE: $653,755,901 it's not a flop!

 

[Ryan]

CoG cost 200 million to make, 100 mil to market. Films need to make three times that amount to break even. It was a huge critical failure and managed to drop off over 20% of the last film's earnings. So much so that the series is currently in limbo waiting for a rework.