Epic Universe Expansion Speculation

[AustinT]

Ok let me be real here, @AustinT is there an actual issue here or are you just still on your "I want Shrek" thing?

Holy cow. What's the issue? I proposed a question, how that may factor into theme park developments, and people are debating it.

 

[DrStarlander]

This is a park with a Fantastic Beasts land for God's sake.

Wouldn't the total three-movie haul for the Fantastic Beasts movies ($1.9B) exceed the likely two-movie haul for the Wicked movies (installment one did below $800M)?

And by the way, I want them to build Wicked, and have no interest in Fantastic Beasts, myself.

 

[ParkRumors]

No surprise, but new note on the permit confirms the expansion is for Potter.

 

[quinnmac000]

Wouldn't the total three-movie haul for the Fantastic Beasts movies ($1.9B) exceed the likely two-movie haul for the Wicked movies (installment one did below $800M)?

And by the way, I want them to build Wicked, and have no interest in Fantastic Beasts, myself.

Wicked and Wicked for Good combined cost Universal between 150-200 million in production which they have already made back. Universal owns both the movie and the stage version of the musical so all the increase ticket sales for the Broadway show makes them money. its a merchandise mover. Let's not forget Wicked for Good is not a happy movie, its a just sad film which also impacting multiple viewings compared to the first movie which was a light for a lot of people. Right now, all this money is just gravy for Universal.

 

[DrStarlander]

Wicked and Wicked for Good combined cost Universal between 150-200 million in production which they have already made back. Universal owns both the movie and the stage version of the musical so all the increase ticket sales for the Broadway show makes them money. its a merchandise mover. Let's not forget Wicked for Good is not a happy movie, its a just sad film which also impacting multiple viewings compared to the first movie which was a light for a lot of people. Right now, all this money is just gravy for Universal.

I like Wicked. You don't need to convince me. I was just pointing out that while many people (myself included) have thought of Fantastic Beasts as a sort of failure, an unworthy IP, it actually did pretty good, surprisingly (in my opinion).

 

[illumination]

I like Wicked. You don't need to convince me. I was just pointing out that while many people (myself included) have thought of Fantastic Beasts as a sort of failure, an unworthy IP, it actually did pretty good, surprisingly (in my opinion).

Fantastic Beasts served the purpose of extending Harry Potter fandom. I think they stopped making movies mostly because of the Johnny Depp scandal right? But only the first movie was good, then it fizzled out with movies 2 and 3 and they stopped the process of making movies 4 and 5. If it weren’t for the Harry Potter connection, it wouldn’t have been made into a theme park attraction though.

 

[Brian G.]

Fantastic Beasts served the purpose of extending Harry Potter fandom. I think they stopped making movies mostly because of the Johnny Depp scandal right? But only the first movie was good, then it fizzled out with movies 2 and 3 and they stopped the process of making movies 4 and 5. If it weren’t for the Harry Potter connection, it wouldn’t have been made into a theme park attraction though.

They recast Depp’s role. They stopped because they were bad and were not making money.

 

[rageofthegods]

They recast Depp’s role. They stopped because they were bad and were not making money.

Case in point: the last Fantastic Beasts made 95m in North America and 407m worldwide.

Compare this to the first Wicked, which did 112m in its domestic opening weekend, ending up at 474m in North America alone.

Part of that difference is Covid, of course, but not all, not by a long shot.

 

[Mad Dog]

Im actually thinking Epic has multiple expansions / additions on the table for the next few years. The park needs help ASAP and I believe we could see numerous plans moved up and other plans shelved.

You don’t spend nearly 8 billion dollars on a themepark and just hope things get better. Even if small scale additions aimed at kids, a parade, whatever. They’ve got to fix the issues and begin taking action now.

Yes!! Epic is absolutely beautiful but it's an incomplete, not ready for prime time, park. The attraction underbuilt screams out. I booked two days. Second was a waste of money, absolutely no need. My wife summed it up..."Nice park, but with so little to do, there's no reason to go back to it for three or four years". Except for the fabulous/fantastic/WOW factor Monsters ride, it's just not very repeatable at this point in time.

 

[rabbitsmoon]

Yes!! Epic is absolutely beautiful but it's an incomplete, not ready for prime time, park. The attraction underbuilt screams out. I booked two days. Second was a waste of money, absolutely no need. My wife summed it up..."Nice park, but with so little to do, there's no reason to go back to it for three or four years". Except for the fabulous/fantastic/WOW factor Monsters ride, it's just not very repeatable at this point in time.

I have a strong desire to return, but only if I can go at a time when it's not so godawful hot. I think it would genuinely feel like a new park to explore. Plus I need to see those Christmas decorations. I didn't make it to Pizza Moon this summer, but I guess I was just waiting for the cheese grater bells to start ringing. Maybe next holiday season or the year after...

Also, despite the weather, we got lucky and had one of those magically smooth days in terms of crowds and operations, while narrowly missing some true disaster days I heard accounts of. So while I do believe everyone, I don't have first hand experience of it being the frustrating experience I know it can be.

But I'm not gonna complain about more stuff! Hopefully what we're seeing with them continuing to iterate on the nighttime show is a good example of the smaller-scale, less-publicized stuff they're going to do to keep making Epic better.

 

[IndyRs]

Considering that they're already doing the Harry Potter expansion, I wonder if Universal already gets the visual plans/ideas for the Zelda one. Considering the movie comes out in the first half of 2027, I wonder how soon after the movie will they begin construction.
Also Luigi's Mansion for that matter because that's just a no brainer.

 

[rabbitsmoon]

Considering that they're already doing the Harry Potter expansion, I wonder if Universal already gets the visual plans/ideas for the Zelda one. Considering the movie comes out in the first half of 2027, I wonder how soon after the movie will they begin construction.
Also Luigi's Mansion for that matter because that's just a no brainer.

I wouldn't expect a Zelda land to be tied to the movie in aesthetics or release timeline. They didn't bother to match the movie look for Mario or DK, and that was their own production (Zelda movie is Sony).