It does seem like every few years we hear about a movie studio theme park coming to South Korea that never materializes. Maybe someone in the ROK should pursue a K-drama theme park instead of waiting to partner with a major Hollywood studio to make one?:
Is Korea a burial ground for movie studio theme parks? Every attempt to attract amusement parks by major U.S. film studios has failed in the past decade.
A huge plot of land in Songdo, Incheon, has remained idle for the last seven years. In the midst of tall weeds is a worn down sign that reads in Korean, “Paramount movie park Korea construction site.” In 2008, the site was chosen to be home to a Paramount theme park. The park was supposed to turn the area into a global tourist attraction by offering Asia’s first destination linked to Paramount, a studio famous for blockbuster films like the Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible franchises.
The project never went through because the Korean company driving it, Daewoo Motor Sales, was financially strapped due to the global financial meltdown in late 2008.
“This used to be a neighborhood that couples frequently visited but it has been empty for a long time,” said a 58-year-old realtor. “The damage caused by the cancellation of the project on the region’s commercial businesses has been huge.”Since 2007, plans for four U.S. movie theme parks were announced but none were ever built. Analysts say the 2008 financial crisis was one cause, followed by friction between the studios and Korean project-operators.
The situation was similar when the South Gyeongsang government tried building a global theme park in the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone. The local government and Fox Studios signed a memorandum of understanding in 2014, but the project never materialized. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
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