Sony Pictures is taking a page from the playbook of other entertainment giants that have licensed their properties to theme park operators. Sony films, including Smurfs, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, Ghostbusters, Underworld and Zombieland, are set to become attractions at a planned theme park in the Middle East.
Under a deal between Sony Pictures Consumer Products and Dubai Parks and Resorts that was announced early this week, the planned Motiongate Dubai, a Hollywood-inspired theme park being built in the United Arab Emirates, will feature a “Sony Pictures Park and Smurfs Zone.”
According to the announcement published in regional newspaper The National, Sony Pictures Park and Smurfs Zone will contain 12 attractions based on Sony films.
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Motiongate Dubai in its entirety is set to cover 372,000 square meters, be made up of four zones and 27 attractions. Dubai Parks and Resorts anticipates 3 million annual visitors when it is complete in 2016.
“We are very excited to partner with Dubai Parks and Resorts to create compelling attractions that extend our most iconic brands into themed attractions,” said Sony Pictures’ senior vp global consumer products Gregory Economos in a statement.
Alongside Motiongate Dubai, the $2.7 billion Dubai Parks and Resorts project — being overseen by government-owned development company Meraas Holdings — will also house a Bollywood-themed park and the world’s 7th Legoland. Plans for a Dubai Legoland first emerged in 2008 as part of the city’s multi-billion dollar Dubailand project, but were put on hold following the financial crisis.
