Situated on Yas Island, one of the world’s leading business, leisure and entertainment destinations, the development will include the only Warner Bros. branded hotel alongside the immersive theme park.
The first phase of the project, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, is set to open in 2018. Construction is underway and rides are in production.
4 comments:
When I first heard this story a day or two ago, I thought "of course". But thinking about it more, I'm not totally sure what the appeal in a Warner Brother's park would be in a foreign nation. Does Warner Brother's really have such a massive foreign following that I've been completely blind to all this time? At the same time though however, you have to consider the fact that Yas Island in Abu Dhabi has already begun to fill a weird nation in the foreign entertainment market, and made it work quite well. Many businesses have set up massive operations on the island, catering to the oil mogul money that has made Saudi Arabia begin to flourish in the past decade. I feel like if you make something large enough, and put enough money into it, you can fit pretty much any branding deal into it and make money out of it. If Warner Brothers fit the demographic, even better, however, I feel like you could make a theme park out of anything for $1 billion and it would be exciting regardless.
Who wants to bet that this project will be at least another billion over budget by the time it's finished? From what I've been observing of the comparable-scale construction of the World Cup facilities in Qatar, this project runs not only the risk of being a victim of considerable corruption, both private and institutional, as well as single-handedly keeping slavery alive in the Middle East (looking at you, Rio 2016). All this being said, I do believe that the placement of this theme park, squeezed in between Ferrari World and a really really big waterpark, is either a genius move (it's like a super-mega theme park) or a really stupid decision (There's an amusement park over-saturation in the area, and people can only be so amused in one day, even if you keep on shoving sugar and sunshine down their throats.) All this being said, I look forward to seeing further articles on this topic in the future, as any such project is sure to be almost as fun (fora production-minded person, at least) to watch as it is to actually experience once opened.
Just the sheer size of this complex makes me want to experience this “world” for myself. This opens up so many more jobs in the entertainment field. I would definitely love to spend time working in Abu Dhabi. Disney has ruled the world of themed entertainment for far too long and Warner Bros. has reached a point where then need to expand and start taking their characters that consumers have loved for so many years to theme parks. Judging from the pictures of this complex, it looks like it is going to be a pretty sizable addition to Warner Bros. revenue. I hope that they have left room for expansion because this is something that could potentially be a large tourist attraction and moneymaker for not only Warner Bros. but also the Abu Dhabi economy. I think that one of the greatest things that Warner Bros has going for them in the development is the wide spectrum of audience that they will be able to attract.
It is probably a very exciting time to be in Dubai. The past few years have taken that country on a whirlwind tour from a little talked about blob on the map of Africa to one of the most profitable and well off places in the world. It’s a striking contrast to the middle east which has fallen on hard times recently. The impact of oil money has clearly left different impacts in each part of the world. I actually applied for an internship this summer with a company that is planning the upcoming “Fox World” in Dubai. I think it would be really cool to spend some time in this up and coming country and to be able to work in an environment which has so much money coming in and everything is being built in parallel. I imagine it is a very different experience to get to build infrastructure at the same time as entertainment than the experience in the US and Europe.
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