Had Universal stuck to the original SNW plan a few of these issues (like capacity) would've had some relief.
That doesn't solve the empty theater problem. And to be fair they did appear to want to address this theater with the Potter VR thing even if it was something that got an overall lukewarm response.
I wonder if the desire for a unified land/theme is also what's causing problems creatively (I'm just spitballing now). They did want to merge that chunk of land into HP but the theater sits between that and MIB in a somewhat awkward space. At least for this area I can maybe see the need to want to do something fast (like shoving HP VR in that space) but trying to also keep the momentum going in the way the park has been headed as an overall 'theme' of USF and the resort as a whole with these lands/zones.
There's also only 3 attractions for guests that want to relax without any motion effects/thrills - Cat in the Hat, Seuss Trolley and Poseidon's.
To this day I still don't understand the logic behind building an amphitheater in Toon Lagoon and not Seuss Landing. I love thrill rides, but I also need a break from them as well as the A/C.
Going back in time to the pre-Potter era I think it made more sense. Those three attractions are all on the right side of the park.
Seuss Landing may not be a show but for that ride the land itself
is the show. As you said with its family-friendliness most guests could sit, relax, and still see things in a covered ride vehicle sort of met the same requirements. It even has a portion that's air conditioned!
It wasn't a show obviously but it got you out of the sun (somewhat), you got to sit,
and you still got to "do" something.
Lost Continent is right next door with Poseidon's Fury and while it wasn't a sitting attraction it generally served the same purpose of cooling people off and could hold a lot of people. Sinbad was a show in the traditional sense and further away but at least again, like the trolley ride, you could sit for a bit and still be entertained.
When you consider MSHI doesn't have a show or a people-eating gentle attraction and TL having nothing but water rides (great for sun/heat, terrible for rain/cold, and not everyone wants to get wet), guests needed
something like a trolly ride or theater on this side of the park placed somewhere in these two islands. You could dash into the stores in both islands for a quick break but that obviously didn't help capacity issues and overall really isn't a solution.
Otherwise when you enter the park and go left the first attraction similar to the ones described above would be the old Triceratops Encounter. Camp Jurassic is there too but it's still a far walk coming from MSHI's direction first and it's not exactly designed for crowds.
So it appears (again, assuming here) the solution to this problem was to just shove a theater between the two islands to try balancing the park out some in this regard. Considering the guidelines around MSHI it was probably easier to theme and design it on the TL side of things.
Tell me this doesn't look shoved in there to solve a problem?
I add that I obviously don't know the thinking behind the original way the park was designed, just basing this off observations. It's possible the designers didn't even
realize this problem until late in the game and this was their solution. Can't say we haven't seen this kind of thing happen in a park before.
(If you're wondering what would have gone in this area instead I'd like to think they would have extended the water between the two islands the same way the water separates Seuss and LC.)
To bring it back over to this theater/topic (sorry for the segue) it does feel like we're seeing a similar problem here too.
In this case this "pocket corner theater problem" grew over time for this theater as the USF shifted direction with Diagon Alley, Simpsons, etc. instead of starting out that way from the early days like in Islands.
So the question in the long term would be if they may try making another new HP attraction after EU, demolish MIB and the theater all in one swoop to make a new land/area, or [blue sky] refurbish the ride and make an MIB show in that space?
Unrelated: Has anyone looked at EU's blueprints closely to find future abandoned theaters? Is that what all those expansions pads are for?