Wanda Wuhan Movie Park Schematic Development
Do Theme Park Development 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 development, IP development, develop and implement a 360 degree design and operational training program for experiential entertainment across all disciplines and sectors
Location
Wuhan, China
Client
Dalian Wanda Group and Forrec Ltd
The
Challenge
Assemble a team of global creatives, experts, and engineers to execute 7 world-class attractions; lead the development of 3 cutting edge experiential entertainment venues under the direction of an organization possessing a team with no prior entertainment experience. A significant level of complication was added to the effort in the form of executing a world’s first type of indoor attraction and housing all of the experiences within the world’s first multi-level vertical theme park.
The
Approach
Lead an intensive introduction and dep dive into the world of experiential entertainment guiding and mentoring the building of an entire brand and global multi-disciplinary team from the ground up. Work at length to train each of the team disciplines, translation staff, and cultivate group trust and atmosphere. Build bridges of cultural, technical, and creative understanding to achieve incremental successes that resulted in cumulative large-scale successes.
The
Solution
- Raven Sun assembled the team who performed the Wanda Wuhan schematic design of the final 7 attractions selected from the Blue Sky Conceptual Phase.
- Raven Sun focused effort on Creative Direction and Project Management of the 5D Theater, Interactive Dark Ride, and Disaster Experience.
- Raven Sun worked in collaboration with over 30 vendors globally to perform Schematic Design of these complicated immersive attractions in a compressed 22 week time frame.
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 indoor movie park
- World’s first vertical theme park
- Louis developed several world firsts, including…
- Worlds first open-cabin motion based immersive theater, integrating large scale physical water effects, and 3D media.
- Award-winning 5D theatrical experience
- All-new multi-branching gaming features for interactive attraction
Our
Scope
- Raven Sun Creative assembled the team that performed schematic design of 7 attractions
- Creative Direction and Project Management of 3 attractions (5D Theater, Interactive Dark Ride, and Disaster Experience)
More Work
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