Universal United Kingdom Resort - Construction Updates

[rob@rar]

Without much of a surprise, the official title will be Universal United Kingdom Resort, according to Project Universal.

Pleased they avoided USUK.

 

[rob@rar]

The Guardian reports that the UK government is contributing £1.3Bn to the resort's infrastructure. Chancellor Rachel Reeves was at today's naming ceremony.

UK government to pay £1.3bn to help fund Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire

Chancellor hails deal saying it will create tens of thousands of jobs in the construction, hospitality, creative and technology sectors

www.theguardian.com

 

[EllieB]

Without much of a surprise, the official title will be Universal United Kingdom Resort, according to Project Universal.

Pleased they avoided USUK.

It's confirmed here in this Sky News article:

https://news.sky.com/story/universal-theme-park-gets-1-3bn-taxpayer-support-as-name-is-revealed-13550378

 

[rob@rar]

Press notice from HM Treasury regarding today's announcement. In 'new news' Comcast said today that they will invest a further £1Bn in the resort in the first 10 years after it opens.

Does £1Bn sound a lot if spread over 10 years? I'm not sure that it does sound like a massive phase two expansion?

 

[EllieB]

World of Frozen cost about 2 billion euro. So 1 billion over ten years is more a couple of new smaller rides or attractions, rather than something big I would say.

 

[rob@rar]

The statement from Secretary of State Lisa Nandy has just been published. It confirms that the government and UDX have concluded all their negotiations and have formally signed the agreement to enable the project to be developed.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

World of Frozen cost about 2 billion euro. So 1 billion over ten years is more a couple of new smaller rides or attractions, rather than something big I would say.

Yeah to me it says a standard upgrade and replacement cycle and other major addition will be additional capital expenditures.

 

[xtpower]

That £1 billion over ten years sounds like the floor for investment. So regardless of the Park's needs £1b will be the minimum spent over those 10 years. If they need to do a major expansion I don't see any reason why they would even hesitate, Universal are not afraid of making such investments.

 

[rob@rar]

I see the local BBC reporter Danny Fullbrook is still sticking with his story from last year that Lord of The Rings is going to feature in Universal UK. I would so love him to be right.

Universal UK park named as Rachel Reeves pledges £1.3bn

The government's contribution is going towards upgrading local infrastructure and transport links.

www.bbc.co.uk

Probably entirely unrelated, the owner of the IP rights to Lord of The Rings, Embracer Group, recently announced that it was spinning off their ownership of LoTRs (and Tomb Raider) in to a separate company which would have its own listing on the Stockholm NASDAQ stock exchange.

Embracer Group announces its intention to spin off Fellowship Entertainment on Nasdaq Stockholm - Embracer Group

INSIDE INFORMATION: The Board of Directors of Embracer Group AB (“Embracer Group”) today announces the intention to separate the group into two publicly listed companies, through the spin-off of Fellowship Entertainment with a listing on Nasdaq Stockholm planned for calendar year 2027. The main...

embracer.com

 

[Brian G.]

Did a little housekeeping:

https://forums.insideuniversal.net/forums/unviersal-united-kingdom-resort.264/

Just a reminder that this thread is primarily intended for construction updates. Broader discussion about today's announcement should be held in the News & Info thread.

 

[tommyhawkins]

The statement from Secretary of State Lisa Nandy has just been published. It confirms that the government and UDX have concluded all their negotiations and have formally signed the agreement to enable the project to be developed.

They signed the security deposit early this week with the government, the land got put up as collateral for the £1.7BN subsidy UK GOV is chipping in. I imagine apart from the minimum spend promise on the park itself actually getting built, this additional billion for further construction is the bare minimum. £1BN is a big number but doesn't buy you much if you're aiming to be at 10m guests by Year 5

 

[Altonsky]

I’d love a Tomb Raider ride. It’s a British IP after all, and they’re still investing in the games side of things and the new series being developed by Amazon

 

[xtpower]

Did a little housekeeping:

https://forums.insideuniversal.net/forums/unviersal-united-kingdom-resort.264/

Just a reminder that this thread is primarily intended for construction updates. Broader discussion about today's announcement should be held in the News & Info thread.

Just a small typo there .

 

[Brian G.]

Just a small typo there .

What typo? *whistles*

 

[Elijah Abrams]

I’d love a Tomb Raider ride. It’s a British IP after all, and they’re still investing in the games side of things and the new series being developed by Amazon

Funny you should say that, the Tomb Raider franchise used to be developed by Core Design, a now-defunct studio based in the UK, and even the now-defunct publisher of the franchise, Eidos Interactive, was based in Britain. Unfortunately, because of the awful critical reception (thanks to a rushed development) of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, which was released on PlayStation 2 and PC in 2003, Eidos took the Tomb Raider franchise from Core (which got bought by UK-based Rebellion Developments) and gave it to U.S.-based Crystal Dynamics, where it got rebooted twice (with Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider 2013).