Dan9 Posted November 16, 2013 Report Share Posted November 16, 2013 It may seem a bit "out there", however it makes a lot of sense from a business point of view. Saw attracted, and still attracts thousands of people due to its brand name compared to the lackluster performance from The SWARM, Careful... But yeah I wouldn't rule it out, it's got a broader market appeal than Saw too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 I haven't seen The Hunger Games so have no idea what to expect if it happens. What type of attractions could we see that would fit in with the film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 What type of attractions could we see that would fit in with the film? Even as someone who has watched the film and read the books, I can't really think of what attractions would utilise the theme well. In some ways, a wingrider would suit well, as you could 'fly' through one of the battle arenas or something. Of course, that sort of attraction is probably not on Thorpe's cards due to Swarm. An interactive dark ride which is 'training' you for battle is another option which could come about. Something similar to Battle Galleons could work as well actually. Everything I can think of would require some form of interactivity, be that through many near misses on a roller coaster, or where you actually have to do something whilst on the ride. A scare zone would be a brilliant idea as well, but would require a lot of space to be executed well in my mind. Certainly something which could fit into Thorpe perfectly considering their current direction, but I personally can't think of many attractions which the theme could work well with. Would love to be shown wrong though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted November 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 I've got no idea what hunger games even is, but if it can be used as an excuse for a decent dark ride I'd be happy. Could it fit a Spiderman type affair? That technology should be getting more and more affordable all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 The basic idea of Hunger Games is that in a dystopian future, there's a country with a very rich capital, and 12 poor 'districts'. Each year, the government (in the capital) forces each district to offer up 2 children to compete in a 24 person fight-to-death battle (the 'Hunger Games'), which is televised across the entire country. There is training and other things which happen as well. A Spiderman-style ride is definitely something which could work given enough space and budget! FrightNights04 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 "Watch 11 year old kids getting murdered in 3D!" pluk and FrightNights04 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 I particularly like the idea that a film series that does involve the death of many people (both children and adults, as you can see from the trailer of Catching Fire, lots more death is to be involved) is seen as perfect for a family type audience... Indeed, the only reason it's a 12A is to get the maximum amount of target market in, otherwise it would (and probably should have) been a 15... Then again, it's just a Friday night in Croydon or Staines, so it wouldn't particularly work at Thorpe anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 It could work at Thorpe. They have a ride themed around a film franchise that involves extreme torture and horrendous ways of dying in Saw, so teenagers killing each other is completely appropriate. AJ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrightNights04 Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 Bit off topic, but does anyone know how many visitors there were this season??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 I particularly like the idea that a film series that does involve the death of many people (both children and adults, as you can see from the trailer of Catching Fire, lots more death is to be involved) is seen as perfect for a family type audience... Well, Thorpe are aiming for an audience which attracts families with older children, so Hunger Games is indeed a perfect fit the park in my eyes. The books have a broad audience, but I'd assume were written with a teen / mature pre-teen audience, and they're a lot more detailed with the deaths. Absolutely nothing wrong with the idea working in a theme park environment the way I see it. They wouldn't even need to focus that much on the deaths for it really to make it successful. The Harry Potter world has a fair few deaths in it (granted, no where near as many as Hunger Games and the entire series doesn't revolve around it), but all HP attractions seem to be able to avoid the deaths from what I'm aware? So yeah, just because it involves deaths, doesn't mean it's incompatible with a family theme park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 Harry Potter land has giant spiders though, which automatically make it more terrifying than anything else in the world ever... Also given the fact that Potter's 'world' has a much wider range of experiences available for a park to actually produce (hence Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade being built)... The focus of Hunger Games story IS the deathmatch with a slight addition of the dethronement of an evil organisation (the perfect family film)... How does one make a appealing ride out of such a backstory? As much as I want to the UK to get a massively themed immersive dark ride, I can't help but wonder if this is the best theme or IP... It's rather limiting as an IP since there are 3 distinct areas (slums/rich place/arena of death) and not really that much to play around with on a thematic scale aside from the rich place... As a full blown attraction, I can't really see it working, as a temporary maze, there's a lot more going for it because that's where the meat of the film/book's stories are, and they can go all out on the grisly bits... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 As I said earlier, I'm not sure there's many types of attractions which could work for it. Even a scare attraction would require a lot of space to be executed well (I think in some ways turning the park into a 'battle arena' and have roaming actors fighting, and picking on random people, in a similar fashion to the You're Next characters would probably be the best way for Thorpe to go about it if they wanted to explore that route). Some form of dark ride where you're in the training zone and trying to get your 'score' from the judge could be one way of going about it. You could even be in a battle arena, and just being attacked from all edges leading to loads of special effects and such, and you're just trying to defend yourself. Then you'd incorporate the feel of the film and not have a need to actually see the deaths (or just minimise it as much as possible at the very least). It definitely could work, and it could indeed be tailored to a family market with older children, but I do agree it is difficult to do. Difficult, but not impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted November 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 The basic idea of Hunger Games is that in a dystopian future, there's a country with a very rich capital, and 12 poor 'districts'. Each year, the government (in the capital) forces each district to offer up 2 children to compete in a 24 person fight-to-death battle (the 'Hunger Games'), which is televised across the entire country. There is training and other things which happen as well. A Spiderman-style ride is definitely something which could work given enough space and budget! So it's Running Man for kids? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 So it's Running Man for kids? Such a good film <3 Or Battle Royale (as in, exactly the same only no blood because they had to get that 12A rating somehow)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge2002 Posted November 17, 2013 Report Share Posted November 17, 2013 You could very much argue the same about the Saw franchise too. How could you possibly translate a man going around and putting people who have been dishonest in life into gruesome traps and relate that into a roller coaster. Aside from the odd scene, the ride has just a fraction of actual relation to the film, yet the IP carries it a long way. They managed to do a hell of a lot considering most of the films take place in an abandoned warehouse, and rarely stray away from that. You could then argue that about any ride, Indiana Jones at DLRP for example, really has little to do with the film, the IP is just tacked on for the general public's pleasure. If I were working at Merlin head office right now, I would not be able to get my head around 2012's attendance after seemingly ticking all the boxes for success. Saw didn't cost any more than The Swarm, but the difference in attendance seems too noticeable to ignore. I'm just putting this forward from Merlin's point of view too, rather than the general public. They are the ones in control, after all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Saw's simple though, as the ride itself IS a 'trap'... Hence all the TVs going on about us thrillseekers aiming to find the 'ultimate thrill' (if only we'd waited till 13 had opened eh?) and what-not... Certainly easier to translate into a ride (and indeed it's probably a better story than the films ended up having), it's not done very well mind (although that's more a comment of the quality of the theming and general ride appearance more than anything)... It's very clear that a strong brand is the success story, it's up to the parks though if they can create their own one (Smiler worked this year as a brand, Swarm tried but didn't get to very high levels, looking abroad Walibi have had great success with their rebranded characters) or just rely on pre-existing ones (Cbeebies Land, Thomas, Peppa Pig, 2 of which have been insanely successful for their respective parks, and I haven't even mentioned Potterland)... Of course another situation is the timing of the franchise (Merlin's preference for franchises near the end of their life will bemuse me forever, HG excluded), the quality of the attraction (Ice Age 4D/Madagascar) and of course the popularity of the franchise itself (Saw is/was popular at the time of the ride, mainly for being novel in it's originality and then becoming bland)... My personal preference will always be that park's should look to create their own brands rather than use external ones though (Franchise themed parks being an exception, but even then Disney at it's best will always be their 'ride' brands over say Toy Story Playland)... I'm just not sure how they can fit T'Hunger Games into a theme park environment (similarily, Universal trying to build Lord of the Rings into a park confuses me greatly, the source material as a whole would be difficult to translate well, but then again, I'd have more hope in Universal pulling it off well than any Merlin park)... EDIT - I was just seeing film times for Hunger Games as I'm apparently seeing it this week, and the blurb of the film caught my eye... "The victors of the 74th Hunger Games become an inspiration to their generation meaning revolution is in the air. The only way to stop it? Kill them!" Screams family entertainment doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon81uk Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 I think Hunger Games would make a great stunt show (think of Waterworld at Universal Studios in LA or Indianna Jones at Disney's Hollywood Studios), however I wouldn't expect this at Thorpe Park simply as they don't seem to go for shows, especially big budget stunt shows. I really cannot see how a ride could me made based on the Hunger Games though so this would be best left for a stunt show at another park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 A short article about a Hunger Games theme park and what potential attractions could possibly work... http://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/18/that-hunger-games-theme-park-here-are-5-attractions-we-want-to-see/ One thing which stands out massively to me is the large amount of space required to make even just one or two of those attractions successful. However, I think it's achievable and could suit itself to a family environment to some degree. Whilst I hate the possible deductions that could be made from this, but Thorpe Park's marketing director did tweet this link on his Twitter page, so who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 The Mocking Jay concept has an even less logical plotline than Forbidden Journey and the train ride would involve masses of barbed wire, empty fields and torture. Midway Mania for hunting to not die from starvation? The series would have to be watered down, thereby losing its intended meaning or it is actually done well and causes offence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 RIDE TRAINED MY SON TO BE A SERIAL KILLER! Inferno 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFarmerDean Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 does anyone think the next big thing could be a family thrill ride like 13, not in terms of copying the ride itself but the fun yet thrilling experience it gives and can be enjoyed by thrill seekers (over 1.4m) but with the lower restriction of say 1.2m allows thorpes latest change in target audience to fit in with it as well? Juvelen or Piraten (guessing piraten is a 1.2m restriction) anyone? I would love to have a massive new ride as their next large investment, hybrid woodie plz, but I can genuinely seeing this outlook on their new target audience trying to include them in their next big investment, as to have a substantial ride like 13, or the rides I have listed still have a reasonably large cost, but cheaper than a massive thrill machine, that they would do so, and spend the remaining money on new flat rides, and themeing etc. Or even an Intamin ZacSpin added as well, due to the smaller costs involved in the 'big investment', and the fact that an Intamin ZacSpin doesn't cost an awful lot, just something I would really like to see, as I loved the one I have been on in terra mitica in spain, but haven't had the chance to go back since 2010, so would love to see one in the near future in the UK (I think it could have great potential at drayton manor.) FrightNights04 and pluk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrightNights04 Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 I would love to see a zacspin at thorpe park. I also think it would work there! Anyone else think that it could go in the middle of rumba rapids if they filled the lake in? Purple track, green supports, red cars (to fit in with rumbas colour scheme)? The queuing would fit in next to it as it's tall and the ride entrance could be a bridge over the rapids! I am editing photos as a concept to show how it would work, il put them up when I'm done! OldFarmerDean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 My only issue with a zacspin is, I'm sure it's a really low throughput rollercoaster? I don't know exact throughputs but if you only have 4-8 people going round 30-60 secs you're not going to get more than 500pph and that would be over estimating the throughput. I would reckon you would only probably get 300-400pph and with thorpe parks popularity, a new rollercoaster of that throughput would certainly not be high enough... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFarmerDean Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 well I don't see a zac spin as a large investment, so I guess the throughput wouldn't be much worse than a new flat ride if they were to get one? I was just thinking of one as a filler attraction... although like I mentioned, guess if thorpe don't get one then it's more suited to drayton manor for example. I mean if thorpe wanted one that bad they could look into getting intamin to increase capacity or create two rides to deal with the throughput... although these outcomes are unlikely - as much as thorpe getting one at all FrightNights04 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrightNights04 Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 My only issue with a zacspin is, I'm sure it's a really low throughput rollercoaster? I don't know exact throughputs but if you only have 4-8 people going round 30-60 secs you're not going to get more than 500pph and that would be over estimating the throughput. I would reckon you would only probably get 300-400pph and with thorpe parks popularity, a new rollercoaster of that throughput would certainly not be high enough... They can have 1 or 2 cars out whilst loading another 1 and unloading another one. Also, not as many people would want to ride it as saw or swarm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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