Wanda theme park to compete with Disney in China
Wang Jianlin, billionaire real estate tycoon and chairman of the property and entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, whose fortune estimated by Forbes at £23.46bn ($34bn)is investing £2.07bn ( $3bn) in a new children’s theme park leisure resort in Wanda City which opened in Nanchang, Southern China last month. The opening ceremony of dancing lions and its attractions include the longest and tallest roller coasters enough to compete with Disney, the world’s largest entertainment company whose Chinese leisure activities resort in mainland China opens in Shanghai on June 16, an £5.52bn ($8bn) joint venture with three government owned companies. Disney, whose new theme park is based on Pirates of the Caribbean and superhero pictures such as Iron Man and Avengers Assemble, is banking on its international hit movies to attract Chinese youngsters and their rich parents.
According to Wang, “The days of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are over as one tiger is not a match for a pack of wolves – Shanghai has one Disney, while Wanda across the nation will open 20 Wanda Cities and woo white-collar workers looking for quick cheap weekend day out rather than expensive holiday.
Both Disney and Wanda could benefit from the government’s plan to create more national holidays and high speed rail links according to Reto Wilhelm, General manager for the Chinese arm of the Thomas Cook tourism group.
But according to Tiger Hou, of Ent Group the Chinese entertainment consulting firm, says “Disney has a real edge against local theme parks because of their world famous characters and Chinese consumers are prepared to pay a premium price to see their children’s favourite Disney characters.
In the US. Disney’s main competition comes from Comcast, the cable group which acquired NBC Universal in 2010, is pouring billions in capital expenditure into building Harry Potter –themed locations, within its Universal theme parks in Florida, California and Hogwarts Castle in Los Angeles. In 2007, Universal gained a theme park licence for the wizard franchise from Warner Bros, makers of Harry Potter movies and JK Rowling author of the famous books.
Merlin, the British attractions operator , has profited from having a worldwide licensing rights to the Legoland brand and attraction based on plastic toy bricks. Kirkbi, the Danish holding company for the family of billionaire Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, a majority shareholder in the Lego group which also has a 30 per cent stake of Merlin. Following the huge success of The Lego Movie in 2014, a feature which grossed £317.4m ( $460m) worldwide, a growth of 21 per cent, three Lego animated films are scheduled to be released before 2018.