Universal Studios Beijing (Now Open)

[quinnmac000]

Quick note: Universal sold out of Oriental DreamWorks so their content likely won't be appearing in the park.

Not fully true...

Among upcoming features is the 2019 Yeti-themed Everest. Universal and DreamWorks Animation, will continue to collaborate with Pearl Studio on the film with Universal Pictures releasing outside China. Directed by Jill Culton, the film finds a group of misfits who encounter a young Yeti named Everest and embark upon an epic quest to reunite the magical creature with his family at the highest point on Earth.

Said Li, “We are enormously grateful to our JV partners and especially NBCUniversal. As Oriental DreamWorks evolves and relaunches as Pearl Studio, we have successfully accomplished the goals we envisioned when we began building this business many years ago. We have a world-class creative and development team and a robust and exciting pipeline of projects we are committed to bringing to screens around the globe… The animation market could not be stronger right now in China or globally. We believe Pearl Studio is in a very unique and enviable position to be a bold new independent voice in the animation community.”

Universal Chairman Jeff Shell added, “We have tremendous respect for Li Ruigang and CMC, and look forward to many opportunities to work together as they continue to build this business as Pearl Studio.”

So while Universal doesn't own it. It seems they are still partners with Universal giving up the running of the studio and the funding of all projects...I.E what they do with Blumhouse currently where they choose projects they want/don't want.

 

[zg44]

Not fully true...



So while Universal doesn't own it. It seems they are still partners with Universal giving up the running of the studio and the funding of all projects...I.E what they do with Blumhouse currently where they choose projects they want/don't want.

Everest was already in production, so they weren't going to pull out of that one specifically, but I find it hard to believe that there would be future collaboration with Universal selling out of the joint venture.

Universal would have to sign a new deal for international distribution with them to put them on the level of Blumhouse for example, which can happen yes, but it would require a new contract.

Most likely this is just a continuation of Universal wanting to focus on DreamWorks/Illumination to the exclusion of outside animation.

 

[quinnmac000]

Everest was already in production, so they weren't going to pull out of that one specifically, but I find it hard to believe that there would be future collaboration with Universal selling out of the joint venture.

Universal would have to sign a new deal for international distribution with them to put them on the level of Blumhouse for example, which can happen yes, but it would require a new contract.

Most likely this is just a continuation of Universal wanting to focus on DreamWorks/Illumination to the exclusion of outside animation.

Chinese reporting is stating otherwise that Universal and Dreamworks will continue working on the other projects. Not that it matters but the biggest thing is the park will be Chinese. They aren't going to just say screw their connection in China who is making Chinese films that Universl's team already helped develop.

Universal probably doesn't the difficulties of manage a foreign studio in addition to their own NBCUniversal China Office where they already deal with some issues due to the cultural sensitives.

 

[zg44]

Chinese reporting is stating otherwise that Universal and Dreamworks will continue working on the other projects. Not that it matters but the biggest thing is the park will be Chinese. They aren't going to just say screw their connection in China who is making Chinese films that Universl's team already helped develop.

Universal probably doesn't the difficulties of manage a foreign studio in addition to their own NBCUniversal China Office where they already deal with some issues due to the cultural sensitives.

Sure, I'm just saying that they moved DreamWorks over to NBCU's China distribution and out of Oriental DreamWorks, so it's pretty clear that they're making a clean break in terms of distribution in China. Pearl will likely need to find a different international distributor for their projects after Everest unless Universal has a change in opinion (which would be a surprise to me at this point given how much Universal has on its plate with DW/Illumination and the last 2 movies on the Laika deal).

Also worth noting that the CMC head said a few months ago that NBCU was focused on the Beijing theme park and wasn't as interested in their Shanghai studio anymore.

Realistically we'll see what they do about the park, but even the Chinese govt figures said they expected it to be around 35% Chinese elements, but that it may take time to work up to that ratio.

The most important thing though is going to be money, i.e. attendance and what brings people in; right now most of the top IPs that translate to theme parks are Western with few notable exceptions, and we need to see what happens with the Nintendo movies (i.e. if those are a big hit in China, we may see Nintendo want to bring SNW to Beijing if the Chinese co-owner is willing).

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Seems from a recent Themeparx post that we may know more about Beijing..
Universal Studios Beijing construction updates

 

[quinnmac000]

First Non US based property based on casting calls for USB is The Great Wall.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

First Non US based property based on casting calls for USB is The Great Wall.

It also seems from some of the articles mentioned on Themeparx that Transformers will have a presence, along with the bringing back up of Panda from a long while back with Diagon and Hogsmeade sharing the park.

 

[quinnmac000]

It also seems from some of the articles mentioned on Themeparx that Transformers will have a presence, along with the bringing back up of Panda from a long while back with Diagon and Hogsmeade sharing the park.

I think they move away from Transformers now with the increasing negative reactions. But we will see

 

[Eckert]

I think they move away from Transformers now with the increasing negative reactions. But we will see

Doesn't Transformers do fantastic in China?

 

[quinnmac000]

Doesn't Transformers do fantastic in China?

Used to...the last one flopped.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Used to...the last one flopped.

It barely made it, and had BO that is worse than Amazing Spider-Man 2.

That said, I wouldn't rule out when considering what Transformers The Ride basically is, and that it may of been locked for a while, even before The Last Knight.

 

[fryoj]

Used to...the last one flopped.

Not exactly. The last one was the second biggest of the Transformers movies in China. It just flopped everywhere else.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Not exactly. The last one was the second biggest of the Transformers movies in China. It just flopped everywhere else.

It did take though a major dip, below 91 million from Age of Extinction's BO. And that it's lower than even Amazing Spider-Man 2, which put that series on ice until Homecoming and Civil War.

 

[Nick]

And that's all before Bumblebee bombs this winter!

 

[AlexanderMBush]

And that's all before Bumblebee bombs this winter!

God i hope Travis can do good for the franchise..

Back to the parks, what makes me curious is the second park mentioned in the Chinese articles, being more towards classic Chinese culture and traditions than an Islands.

Makes me very interested if that pans out in the end, as there are a lot of opportunities that UC could do.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

And like that, @Drew just booked a ticket to Beijing.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I wonder how this fits into Beijing's park layout? It'll most likely be apart of a Hollywood section?

 

[UNIrd]

It's official: Universal is tone deaf.

 

[Magic-Man]

I'll pray for them

 

[Paulio]

Hopefully, it's not one of the screen rides we have here in the U.S. unless the Chinese don't give a damn though.