Wanda Wuhan Movie Park Concept Development
Do Ideation and Concepting Better
The Wuhan Movie Theme Park was both the world’s first vertical theme park and world’s first indoor movie theme park. The project served as a world class anchor for Dalian Wanda Group’s mixed-used development in Wuhan.
Project Type
Brand and IP development, entrance into experiential entertainment, 360 degree strategy, attraction design, training and mentoring
Location
Wuhan, China
Client
Dalian Wanda Group and Forrec Ltd Blue Sky Development
The
Challenge
Develop a complete world class destination entertainment program and brand from the ground up in the form of the world’s first vertical theme park in one of the densest metropolitan areas in the world. The Dalian Wanda Group, an organization with no prior experiential entertainment, was making their entrance into the industry with this venture and required comprehensive guidance on expanding their brand into a destination entertainment property.
The
Approach
Lead an intensive introduction to the world of experiential entertainment and guide and mentor the building of an entire brand and global multi-disciplinary team from the ground up. The process is grounded on an exploration of Wanda’s existing brand, value proposition, and ambitions, balanced with discovering and articulating how that brand identity could be realized and connected with the rapidly changing Chinese consumer market.
The
Solution
As Producer, Sr. Creative Director, and Project Manager for Forrec LTD, Louis…
- Conceptualized, scripted, sketched, and budgeted 70 original attractions for the park.
- Assembled and personally led the global team of industry peers to perform the Blue Sky phase for the final selected 7 attractions over 14 weeks
- Conducted branding process to expand Wanda into the entertainment destination space
- Performed extensive training to build a solid foundation of market knowledge, best practices, and end-to-end understanding of the theme park and attraction development process
- Provided extensive training to a translating staff who had no technical knowledge of location-based entertainment to ensure their understanding and optimize their effectiveness
- Assembled vendors and collaborated with nearly 200 employees at Forrec and Wanda
- Provided executive management interface and training.
The Results
The Wuhan Movie Park was a remarkable achievement in terms of the quality and execution of the final product – incredibly notable in that an owner who had never delivered an entertainment destination previously – was successful in delivering 7 world class attractions which supersede the quality of many more established brands. And delivering those experiences in a never-done-before vertical format, stacking them on top of each other – a remarkable engineering feat in and of itself.
However, as identified during the creative process, the feasibility of the site was not mathematically supported by traditional models, and the project proved to be financially unsustainable. After a large site flood occurred during the 2017 rainy season, the owner decided not to reinvest in renovating the site and shuttered the park.
The Wuhan project remains a valuable learning experience for the client, Asia Pacific market, and the Chinese consumer base, informing regional owners and Wanda’s subsequent experiential entertainment design build projects.
Unique
Features
- New operating strategy and business model proposed by Wanda
- World’s first vertical theme park
- World’s first indoor movie park
- Worlds first open-cabin motion based immersive theater, integrating large scale physical water effects, and 3D media.
- 860,000 square-foot building
Our
Scope
- Louis served as Producer, Sr. Creative Director, and Project Manager for Forrec LTD on Dalian Wanda project
- Conceptualized, scripted, sketched, and budgeted 70 original attractions for the Dalian Wanda Group
- Assembled and personally led the global team of industry peers to perform the Blue Sky phase for the final selected 7 attractions over 14 weeks
More Work
The Wuhan Movie Theme Park was both the world’s first vertical theme park and world’s first indoor movie theme park. The project served as a world class anchor for Dalian Wanda Group’s mixed-used development in Wuhan.