Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=266496

Paramount to develop Korea theme park
Friday May 11 06:09 AEST
Hollywood film studio Paramount Pictures Corp. said on Thursday it will explore developing a South Korean theme park with a local partner, in what would be the entertainment company's first amusement resort outside North America.

The partner, South Korea's Daewoo Motor Sales Corp., said it planned to build the park in the airport city of Inchon, south of Seoul, and estimated the cost to total 950 billion won ($US1.03 billion) ($A1.25 billion).

A Daewoo executive said Daewoo alone would raise the funds, but added that he expected Paramount, owned by Viacom Inc., to help with finding investors. The amusement park would be the fourth by a US entertainment group in Asia.

Paramount, known for hits such as "Titanic" and "Mission Impossible," said a feasibility study conducted by Economics Research Associates called for an $US800 million theme park to entertain more than 5 million guests annually.

"It would feature characters, attractions, facilities based on our motion picture library," Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said on a conference call about quarterly results in New York. He said Paramount reached a licensing deal with Daewoo, and the US company has allocated no capital for the project.

The planned facility, on a 50-hectare plot, will feature rides, movie studios, a 300-room hotel, a water park, a media centre and shopping malls, Daewoo said in a statement issued at a joint news conference in Inchon.

The park is due to open in 2009, Daewoo said, aiming to lure a growing number of Asian tourists as well as South Korea's affluent population.

Construction will start this year and the whole park will be completed before the 2014 Asian Games to be held in Inchon, said Daewoo, a South Korean automobile sales company that also has a construction business.

The proposal would make Paramount the first and only foreign entertainment firm to operate a theme park in South Korea. Two of the country's biggest conglomerates, Lotte Group and Samsung Group, each have one theme park in Seoul.

Walt Disney has Disneyland parks in Japan and Hong Kong, and Universal Studios, part of General Electric Co., runs a theme park in Osaka, Japan.

Other Hollywood entertainment giants, including MGM Studios and Universal Studios, are also looking to make forays into South Korea.


�AAP 2007

[Milwaukiedave]

Wow, now anti-American protesters will have another place to scream about America's influence in Korea.

Seriously though, I think it's cool. I just wish it was going to be built BEFORE I left instead of years from now.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Well that should be bad news to all the 'English Villages'.

I just hope there's a subway running out to it so that all the foreign visitors won't actually have to spend any time in or going through Incheon itself.

[Octavius Hite]

It won't happen, thats my bet. Diseny talked about building one and so did Universal in Busan and both of those fell through for a variety of reasons:

1. The price of land (it went through the roof once the Ajummas learned the Yanks wanted to buy.

2. Not enough land to build a decent park, have you been to Everland, sux.

3. Piracy. No market for "real" products when you can buy the fakes.

4. Cheap Koreans. People aren't willing to pay 50 or 60 bucks to get into a place. Everland makes most of its money from schools dragging their kids along. The small size just makes even tougher to turn a profit.

I would love to see a decent amusement park in Korea and it could do well in terms of attendance but I don't think it will happen.

[Milwaukiedave]

OH,

I agree with you, there are lots of reasons to argue against building it (in the end it's the company's decision). Land is one reason, but also most of the people in Incheon don't have a high income level. I'm sure people would come from diffrent areas of Korea, but I'm not convinced Incheon is the best place to build it.

[ajgeddes]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[ajgeddes]

[Milwaukiedave]

[ShadowEdge]

Paramount sold all its American theme parks a few years ago. Seems strange that they'd be interested in opening a new one.