I'll go ahead and post my initial guess list also in this:
- Scary Tales (Dual-Coast. I think it's time for us to share an original concept with Orlando, and I think they're gonna go for it due to how big Wicked is shaping up to be [also helps that we should be having assets from D&D that will be useful)
- Monstruos 3 (I think we're gonna stick to Monstruos for at least one more year, be that with Chupacabra's, Duendes, and an oddball. I hope they try to have one of the legends in La Mala Hora, kind of like how El Cucuy was set during Dia De Los Muertos
- Blumhouse (M3GAN 1.0 + 2.0 and The Black Phone. If they can, I'd also say The Conjuring due to the new co-ownership Blumhouse has with Atomic Monster)
- Friday the 13th (Jason Universe should clear things up, UDX is on really good terms with Paramount and they cleared stuff with New Line for TCM: LOL)
- The Last of Us: Part 2 (Neil Druckmann was spotted recently at HHN, and I believe has spoken publicly of wanting to collaborate with HHN further. I hope I am wrong and it's Silent Hill, but I think it's TLOU2 time)
- Exclusive IP is either a major music artist, or is a oddball IP (In the former, I re-emphasize my point that I think Hollywood wants to continue music collaborations; and I think artists will notice how Hollywood was able to keep HUT a secret. I also think only having one exclusive IP would be fine in the context of the event, if you have heavy hitters).
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice + Beetlejuice (BJBJ is a smash hit and Universal has worked with WBD before in the past with the bio-exorcist. We also have yet to cover the original film for material, which leads to an interesting enigma of where we'd go compared to Orlando).
- IT: Welcome to Derry (Yeah, I think we're going to 9. IT: Welcome to Derry clears the hurdles of what a Stephen King project would need, as it falls into the same pitfall and trapping that is present with other King works. WTD is not produced, nor written directly with King's hands on the matter.)
I see y'all talking about how we can't go to nine with the performance we got in Hollywood, and how Metro feels out of pocket; but I genuinely do believe that 2024 is a byproduct of sticking to familiar brands that have had presences with HHN previously in very recent memory (and of the prices they asked people for as a byproduct of having those familiar brands).
I think if you market the event, with Pennywise, Beetlejuice, M3GAN, and Jason; it becomes much more enticing to people who would want to make a commitment like that. To spend like that.
I'll also add in the element, I think we are never going to 10 houses. It is fundamentally impossible for us to be able to staff that many people with the rates and costs that comes with the event. Nor do I think 9 houses with Terror Tram makes sense. Sooner or later, we are going to have to be at a fork in the road, and that fork will decide what exactly we do in the means of expanding our event to our max limit. The ceiling is coming, and I think we are looking at what we do in the future (and until then, if Terror Tram is present; then we are stuck at 8 and we can't go further with what we are capable of).