Tuesday June 26, 5:19 AM

Paramount signs licensing pact for UAE theme park

LOS ANGELES, June 25 (Reuters) - Film studio Paramount Pictures on Monday said it agreed to let Middle East real estate company Ruwaad Holdings build a theme park in the United Arab Emirates using its hit movies such as "Titanic."

The licensing deal follows a similar pact unveiled in May between Paramount, a unit of U.S. media giant Viacom Inc and South Korea's Daewoo Motor Sales Corp , which is building a $1 billion theme park south of Seoul using Paramount movies, characters and content to attract visitors.

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Ruwaad said the Paramount park in the UAE would be the hub of a $2.5 billion, family-oriented development that is expected to include resorts, boutique hotels and shopping centers.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Ruwaad affiliate International Destination Brands Ltd. would be responsible for finding funds and locating a site for development, the companies said in a statement.

Paramount would not invest money, but would help in the theme park's planning and design, the companies said. Along with "Titanic," Paramount films include "Mission Impossible," "Braveheart," "Forrest Gump," "Grease" and "The Godfather."

In March, Marvel Entertainment Inc. , maker of comic book movies such as "Spider-Man", said separately that it was working with UAE-based real estate company Al Ahli Group to build a $1 billion theme park in Dubai.

R

first universal.. now paramount! who needs disney :lol:

me.

why? Disneyland is pretty good, clean, quality family-friendly fun. A perfect fit for Dubai.

^^ Yeah, except for that tiger molesting teenager girls and the arrogant other figurines :D

So now is the Universal Studios park the only one of the newly proposed ones that is confirmed to be in DubaiLand?

Marvel and Paramount should be close by.

where is thtis about?? location please?

its definately going to be in dubailand. no other place to build it. unless they break down wonderland lol.

i told you this will happen..

Well its a theme park... they gotta theme it on something:) What would Dubai Park contain?:)

Pitches for Picture park

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/images/magazines/construction_week/2008_03_29/DarrellMetzger_thumb.jpg
WARMING TO HIS THEME: Darrell Metzger, CEO, Ruwaad Destinations, is committed to following a proven formula for theme park construction
on Saturday, 29 March 2008

Ruwaad Destinations has identified three potential sites in Dubai for the development of its US $2.5 billion (AED9.1 billion) Paramount Pictures-branded theme park.

The company signed a long-term licensing agreement with Paramount Licensing for the project in June last year.

The final design for the theme park was agreed with Paramount in Los Angeles last week, but plans will only be released once a site is approved.

We purposely haven't released details," said Darrell Metzger, CEO, Ruwaad Destinations. "We're not marketing or promoting the project until we get the specific site because the sites are different sizes, so the components will be slightly different.

Metzger declined to name the three sites, but said the theme park was unlikely to be built in Dubailand, the massive theme-related project under development by Dubai Holding's Tatweer.

"We'll be developing a free-standing theme destination so will not be in the middle of other projects," he said. "We're following a proven formula, we're not testing a concept or the market. We've done our research and we think a well-developed free-standing destination would work very well.

Metzger added that the development would likely include restaurants, a retail component, hotels resorts, a waterpark and possibly a residential component.

"We're not going to spend the entire budget on the theme park, so we'll have to include these components.

Ruwaad will most likely source contractors from outside the UAE to build the project.

"From the contractor's standpoint, there are two main areas: one would be the creative, specialty expertise needed for designing the resort. Most of that comes from outside the UAE, because it just doesn't exist here," added Metzger.

"When it comes to actual construction, finding skilled staff to build the project will be difficult as labour is so tight here. We'll require a project manager that is really experienced in building things with special effects - and that's where the shortage is right now."

via arabianbusiness

So it is unlikely to be in DubaiLand. So DubaiLand has been more or less cancelled and turned into a residential project and the theme parks will all be outside of it :weird:

When's Universal Studios Dubailand coming online?

^^

End of 2010. Saw this on CNBC yesterday. Wonderful documentary.

retarded. and also... in every other market analysis, it shows that a number of similar projects in one location attract more people than the competition they cause.

whatever..

RUWAAD should behave and be good boys, otherwise no soup for them too (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080420/3640759en_public.html?.v=1) :horse: