Outside IPs at Future HHNs?

[Tobias]

If we're laying it all out, even Monsters isn't guaranteed use for Universal Parks. There is footage of a main house designer given a description of Legends Collide and saying something to the effect of "We have been very gracious that we've been allowed to tell some original stories with these characters". Because as much as a lot of people love to lump Frank and Wolfman in the Original House category, they are 100% IP. There are negotiations that have to be made to make even a house like Brides happen at all.

Yep. This was especially true when they were preparing to launch the Dark Universe - HHN Hollywood's relaunch was intended to coincide with that (and was originally to be titled "Dark Universe"). Even though that project fell apart, the Universal Monsters have become a relevant brand again in the eyes of the company. It's why you see so many new partnerships, merchandise lines, and high-end releases. They care about how the Monsters are presented in the Universal parks (and whether it may conflict with how they intend to approach/position a character for a forthcoming movie).

Agreed, as much as I like to think to consider the UCM houses as originals due to taking them in original directions, they're still very much a IP/Licensed property that A&D needs to get permission to use. This is further backed up by the UTM tours, since IP's usually have the most restrictions on where you can take photos. Sure enough, in the three-house tour last year (Bride of Frankenstein LIVES, Revenge of the Tooth Fairy, Case Files.), Bride of Frankenstein LIVES was the most restrictive since there were only three rooms we could take pictures in. Compare that to Case Files, a fully original property, where there were only three rooms we couldn't take pictures in.

 

[Legacy]

This goes back to my pitch that we need to add a third category of house.

“Licensed IP” - Book report houses that attempt to follow the narrative of a property (Ghostbusters, Halloween, Trick R Treat).

“Licensed Original” - An original narrative or concept using characters/settings that did not originate at HHN (The Weeknd, Monsters, Silver Screams).

“(HHN) Original” - A house that uses characters or settings that originate/originated at HHN.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Might as well bring the discussion from the Orlando thread here.

I think The age of IPS will soon decline.

I’ve felt for a while that some of the years HHN in no way needed to cram so many IPS back then. They had the Walking Dead. They had Stranger Things. Both were at their time massively popular juggernauts. Im pretty sure they had the biggest house lines. Really those were all they needed back then.

And now look, the only IPs probably viable that they haven’t used already are films like The Ring, the original From Dusk Till Dawn, the Fly, and maybe Candyman. Some are cult classics like They Live but they wouldn’t work as a haunted house. Some are just too obscure to think that HHN would even give them a chance (like Lifeforce and Arachnophobia). Others like Hellraiser and Scream apparently have some licensing problems. We sure as hell are not going to see Xenomorphs and Predators again if Disney is still holding Fox. And of course all the big IPs like Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Shining have been done (in Hollywood’s case to death).

Now there’s of course new movies being released but here’s the thing.

Slashers are doing a mixed job; Chucky and Ghostface are currently doing well, but Leatherface got a poorly received remake for 2020, Freddy and Jason still have not received anything since their poorly received remakes. I’ve seen Halloween 2018 and find it superior to the original but if fan reaction is to be the case; Michael Myers went out BADLY with Halloween Ends. And nobody cares about Jigsaw anymore.
This past decade has seen an influx of movies like Hereditary, mother!, Midsommar and the Witch; all of which focus on more cerebral horrors. They’re more psychological and don’t really focus on monsters as the gimmick anymore. And again there’s films like A Quiet Place which would be difficult to translate into a traditional haunted house experience. None of these should be really.

Ips are just becoming not as viable. I could see Orlando doing several things. One is that Orlando could just do the Hollywood way and repeat properties over and over. Secondly, there are a lot of music artists they could bring over to create new mazes. I don’t really follow todays music so I wouldn’t know.

But honestly I could see Orlando turning the shift and going back to basics. Originals. This year for instance I could see Orlando play out like 2009 in that it claims to be as movie centric as ever but is really an original centric event with headliners. Chucky was already announced, the Weekend is coming back. They didn’t bring back Billie Ellish when her house was cancelled; but then again Evil Dead is a different playing game so twice is the charm. The rest of the event could be original content (I’m including the Classic Monsters).

And really it’s what it should be. For a while a lot of people were suggesting properties like Scooby Doo into the event. But why not just go with an original concept instead? We already have a paranormal investigating team in the form of the underutilized Legendary Truth. And any ghosts or goblins could substitute for the villains.

 

[ultimateforce]

I would love a yearly storyline of the Legendary Truth getting closer to solving a mystery that was pre-planned in advance.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

I would love a yearly storyline of the Legendary Truth getting closer to solving a mystery that was pre-planned in advance.

Legendary Truth should have been to HHN every year since 2008. 2009 was perfect with the haunted theater; I don’t know why they didn’t do it.