Here’s a rundown on what theme park insider Robert Niles thinks will be coming to a fourth gate.....looking at his possible options for what should be called Fantastic Worlds he did leave out one possibility and that’s Universal Monsters. I’ll only show half of the article what he says....
Granted, not every franchise lends itself to a successful theme park attraction. But franchise value provides an excellent starting point for evaluating the feasibility of potential theme park lands. So let's start with Universal Parks' top 20 movie franchises, as ranked by BoxOfficeMojo.com. These are franchises either owned by Universal or its subsidiaries, or currently licensed by Universal Parks and Resorts.
- Wizarding World
- Jurassic Park/World
- Fast & Furious
- Transformers
- Shrek
- Despicable Me
- Bourne
- Madagascar
- Men in Black
- Fockers
- Mummy
- Kung Fu Panda
- Kong
- Back to the Future
- American Pie
- Jaws
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Fifty Shades
- Secret Life of Pets
- Pitch Perfect
Universal already uses nine of these franchises in attractions at the Universal Orlando Resort. Now there's no reason why Universal could not reuse these franchises at its fourth gate in addition to their existing installations elsewhere in the resort. Heck, Universal already has two Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter and could easily make the business case for a third. But I think the best way to ensure the success of Universal's fourth gate in Orlando to start by defining the unique elements that it would bring to the table, rather than focusing on what it duplicates from Universal Orlando's current parks.
So let's strike these from our list:
- Wizarding World
- Jurassic Park/World
- Fast & Furious
- Transformers
- Shrek
- Despicable Me
- Men in Black
- Mummy
- Kong
Of the remaining 11 franchises, three are easy cuts as they are unlikely to lend themselves to attractions that would be popular with the families that Universal Orlando covets.
- Fockers
- American Pie
- Fifty Shades
I wonder if you called the concierge at Universal Orlando's Hard Rock Hotel, if they'd have a totally unpublicized, don't-tell-anyone-about-this "Fifty Shades" hotel package that they could hook you up with. But that's about the only way I could see any of these franchises working at the resort.
Now we are down to eight. Sorry, long-time Universal fans, but two of our remaining franchises are "been there, done that":
I'm not ready to totally discount some role for those still-popular franchises in the new park. But nostalgia for closed attractions isn't going to drive the market share Universal is looking for here. If they make it in, it will be in a supporting role.
So our prime candidates for franchises to lead Universal Orlando's next theme park are:
- Bourne
- Madagascar
- Kung Fu Panda
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Secret Life of Pets
- Pitch Perfect
Two of these are not like the others, are they? Bourne is widely tapped to go into Universal Studios Florida within the next couple of years. That leaves us with Pitch Perfect. It's the weakest of all these franchises, and while a vocal music show within one of the parks might be nice, let's face it, that's not the real appeal of this franchise. Imagine if you remade a Minions movie with twenty-something women instead of giant yellow Tic Tacs. That's Pitch Perfect. It's the same slapstick, sight gags, and insults.
That gives us four animated franchises to drive this park. Will Universal use all four in its next park? Maybe, maybe not. But the fact that Universal's best bets for its next theme park are all animation franchises suggests that animation might provide the best unifying theme for that gate.
He goes on to talk about Super Nintendo Land or it will be world if that is going to be the 4th gate’s name. But does not mention again Classic Monsters which I thought was a strong rumor and possibly a relocated clone of the waterworld show finally brought to Florida if they decide to do that.