Developers of Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) have called off plans to open a Dreamworks attraction at their park.
Developers Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd could not reach an agreement with Dreamworks to open the Dream Zone, say Perak Corp.
The zone was set to include Megamind Megadrop – which would be Malaysia’s tallest drop tower – and Casper’s Birthday Blast.
Perak Corp said: “ATP has the option to extend the license agreement to 30 September 2018 but decided not to exercise the option in order to accelerate the full opening of the MAPS as soon as possible.”
ATP is now expected to write off an investment of RM15.74mil ($3.87mil) following the termination of its license agreement.
Perak Corp said a full opening will be beneficial to the park: “the full opening of MAPS in the near future is expected to increase visitors’ attendance number, entertainment value and repeat visitors to the MAPS which will then translate into higher revenue to the MAPS.”
The DreamWorks’ attractions zone is now currently being renovated in order to to remove all DreamWorks’ intellectual properties. Once this is complete, ATP plans to open the zone with or without any third party’s intellectual property.
MAPS, Asia’s first animation theme park, opened last June. The RM520 million ($120m) theme park stretches over 21 hectares in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. It features more than 40 attractions in six themed zones. Animated themes include The Smurfs, Boboiboy and animated Dreamworks characters.
Earlier this year Perak Corp had negotiated a deal with theme park operator Only World Group to co-manage and co-operate the Malaysian theme park. The park fell into trouble in June when an external auditor’s report showed huge losses for Perak Corp.
Movie Animation Park Studios is open 10am to 6pm on weekdays and from 10am to 10pm on weekends, public holidays and school holidays.
Image courtesy of MAPS Perak
https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2018/08/08/maps-cancels-dream-zone-attractions/
