A special Which-Wizard-is-going-where edition of Why For (Jim Hill)

[rjholla2003]

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2007/02/02/a-special-which-wizard-is-going-where-edition-of-why-for.aspx

A special Which-Wizard-is-going-where edition of Why For
Jim Hill zeroes in on just one question with this week's column. Which is : Which media conglomerate now appears to have the theme park rights for Harry Potter all sewn up? (Be sure & bring a fork along, folks. Because there's lots of waffling ahead ...)Steve writes in to say that ...

    An interesting article has popped up about Harry Potter and Universal. You can find it here.

    Last year, you reported that Disney had signed a Letter of Intent with Rowling. Any word on where that has gone?

Oh, no ! Not Harry Potter again !

Sorry. You're going to have to forgive me, folks. But given the public pounding that I took the last time I wrote about Harry Potter & theme parks, I have to admit that I'm a little gun-shy when it comes to this particular subject.

Never mind that I had rock-solid sources on that Disney-has-a-letter-of-intent-with-J.K.-Rowling story. Once Ms. Rowling reportedly told the Leaky Cauldron that there was "no truth" to that tale, millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide immediately dismissed the idea. Saying to themselves that "If Jo says that that article is wrong, then it must actually be wrong."

Meanwhile, I've still got my inside guys telling me that J.K. has been working with WDI on this project. And that Ms. Rowling has some very definite ideas (I.E. She wants guests to enter through Diagon Alley, then board the Hogwarts Express for a trip to Harry's school). Which -- on paper -- sounds wonderful. But -- strictly from an operational point of view -- would be guest flow & hourly capacity nightmares.

Anyway ... I wish that I could go into greater detail about this Disney / "Harry Potter" theme park thingy. But given the relatively small size of the crew that worked on this particular project, if I shared the rest of what I know ... Well, I'd definitely wind up burning a source. Maybe even costing someone their job at Walt Disney Imagineering.

And given that I really don't want to do that ... Why don't we address the topic that Steve originally asked me about? Which concerns that article that was recently posted over on About.com about Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park. The key passage in Arthur Levine's report reads as follows:

    " ... Universal's creative wizards plan to substantially change one of the park's five islands and re-theme it to the stories and characters of one of the most popular children's franchises. And I mean hugely popular. The new attractions and land should be ready to fly in 2009 or 2010."

Given that General Electric (Which owns 80% of Universal NBC, the media conglomerate that -- along with The Blackstone Group, a private equity firm -- now owns & operates Universal's four theme parks) hasn't sunk any real money into its Florida parks for the past three years ... To now suddenly pull a 180, spending the tens of millions of dollars necessary to turn IOA's "Lost Continent" section into a "Harry Potter" -themed realm (Never mind the multi-million dollar licensing fee that would have to be paid out annually to J.K. Rowling) ... That just seems wildly out of character to me.

Sooo ... How's about I propose an alternate scenario? Perhaps Mr. Levine at About.com (As well as the guys over at Screamscape) simply misunderstood what they'd been told. Could it be possible that this reported IOA retheming, which is supposed to be built around ...

    " ... the stories and characters of one of the most popular children's franchises."

... actually doesn't involve Harry Potter. Let's remember that -- just last year -- Universal Studios Japan rethemed the entire western section of that theme park around another very popular series of children's books which features witches & wizards. Thus creating the "Land of Oz."

Could it be that Universal has now somehow acquired the stateside theme park rights for the Wizard of Oz characters? I was under the impression that Oz Central LLC had those rights locked up. Which is why -- for several years now -- that company has been talking about building a $500 million Oz-themed theme park & retail, dining & entertainment complex just outside of Wheatfield, NY.

The way I hear it, the folks behind "The Magical Lands of Oz Theme Park and Resort Area" haven't yet been able to raise the money necessary to begin construction. Which is why this project has basically been on hold for the past 18 months.

So could it be that NBC Universal -- while it was securing the theme park rights for the "Wizard of Oz" characters for its Japanese theme park -- also made some sort of backdoor deal? One that would then allow that media company to acquire the stateside rights for this same set of characters should the Wheatfield, NY project ever fall through?

I mean, Universal does have this history of swiping characters right out from under the noses of companies that think that they already have all of the necessary rights locked up. How many of you remember those "Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle" tapes that Buena Vista Home Video sold back in the early 1990s? Given how well these VHSs were selling, the Walt Disney Company started giving some very serious thought to bringing these Jay Ward characters into its theme parks. With a particular eye toward adding a "Bullwinkle" -themed thrill ride to Disney-MGM.

So what happened? While Disney executives were sitting on their large mouse-shaped behinds, thinking that -- just because BVHV was doing such a good job with the selling of those "Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle" tapes -- that Mickey already had the inside track when it came to acquiring the theme park rights to Jay Ward's characters ... Someone else was watching.

You see, what these Mouse House execs didn't realize was that Universal officials had also noticed how well all of those "Bullwinkle" VHSs had been selling. Which is why they then went behind Disney's back and -- while Mickey wasn't looking -- cut a deal with Jay's widow, Ramona & acquired the theme park rights to these same characters that the Imagineers were already designing an attraction around.

Naturally, when Disney learned about this backdoor deal, they were large-scale PO'd at the Ward family. Whereas Universal officials ... They were downright gleeful that they had put one over on the Mouse.

Sooo ... When you take that story into account ... Now I really am beginning to wonder what's going on here. Could it be that NBC Universal just pulled another Bullwinkle on the Mouse? While Disney was dithering over theoretical hourly ride capacity for its proposed "Potter" project, did Universal slip in on the QT and cut a quick deal with J.K.?

My gut (and my inside sources) tell me that Disney still has "Potter" sewn up. I mean, didn't WDI just bring Bryan Jowers (I.E. The guy who did those great concept paintings for Disneyland's "Indiana Jones Adventure" attraction and Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park) back in to work on some extra-special project? Some stunning painting that was then supposed to be used to close the deal with a particularly prickly client?

Which sounds (to me, anyway) like it could be J.K. Rowling. But -- then again -- maybe what Bryan has just been hired to paint is a beauty shot of that indoor theme park thingy that the Walt Disney Company wants to build in Singapore? Or perhaps that park that the Mouse wants to build in Shanghai.

If that's really the case ... Then maybe what Arthur Levine & the guys over at Screamscape are now saying is true. That this is Ramona Ward revisited. More importantly, that Universal Studios officials may have just pulled off the theme park coup of the century.

Please forgive me if it sounds like I'm waffling. Because (let's be honest here) I am waffling. You can probably smell the butter & syrup from there ... But there's really too much information on the table right now to determine which wizard actually is about to set up shop over in IOA's "Lost Continent."

Could it be Harry Potter or the Wonderful Wizard of Oz? And why does all of this talk of an attraction redo seem to center around "Poseidon's Fury" ? I mean, wasn't this elaborate effects-filled show just retooled back in 2001? So why do yet another redo now?

Let me make a few phone calls, folks. If I hear anything this weekend, I'll be sure and come back & update this particular edition of "Why For."

Your thoughts?