Disney loses Harry Potter and Kuka Arms

[daguru]

Well, this has been talked about for a while, as a rumor... but now it seems that these rumors are finally being "confirmed" (some what)...


there has been a rumor for a while that Universal Studios (Florida) beat Disney to an agreement with JK Rowling for the amusement park rights to the Harry Potter universe. This has been going back and forth for over a year, with rumors that Disney had secured the rights... those rumors were shut down pretty quickly, but everyone....

But it seems that while this was going on, Universal was working to secure the rights for themselves. My thought, Universal started the Disney rumor, to keep people from looking at them (just my guess). Now, before I continue, please keep in mind that neither Universal nor JK Rowling has confirmed anything yet.... but the evidence and rumors keep mounting... even mainstream media has talked about it....

The latest information regarding this rumor is from the bane of many online Disney fans Jim Hill. Yeah, I know most people hate his opinions and don't listen to him, but in this case, he is just compiling rumors for mutliple sources (such as Screamscape and others)...

Jim Hill goes into details on why Disney losing out on Harry Potter may not be such a bad thing for Disney, you can read the article for specific info...

What maybe the bigger disappointment, is that Disney has been locked out of the Kuka Robotic Arm for 10 years... now, this is a new ride system, where a robotic arm (that can carry up to 4 people) rides along a coaster type track. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? More information can be found here: Kuka Homepage & Kuka at Wikipedia


Disney and Universal have been developing plans to use this system, but it has been released that Universal has signed a 10-year exclusive deal, meaning they are the only ones who can further develop/use Kuka arms. Now, Disney already owns a few of these arms, a few for testing, one has already been installed in an attraction and a few more to be installed. In the new Nemo Ride at Epcot, there is a scene of the ride with the chasing angler fish. The angler fish is attached to a Kuka arm. parts of the Nemo Sub ride at DL will mimic this scene, with their own Kuka arms. Disney will still be able to use these arms, but no further development will be allowed.

Apparently, Disney was testing their arms with an Incredibles themed ride and something similar to Harry Potter. Universal has been testing a Harry Potter themed ride with their arms, that mimics the flying car sequences from the books/movies... Apparently, the Universal design will be seen in the future... There has also been some rumors that Disney can't get the Kuka arms to do what they want them to do (such as a increase the capacity) and there have been some questiosn about rider safety and security. With the issues around Mission: SPACE, Disney seems to be extra careful about this right now...

Now, rumors have been that Universal is going to overhaul and redo the Lost Continent land (located in Islands of Adventure) into the new Harry Potter world. This means that whole area will either be rethemed, rebuilt, or both... with the recent announcement that NBC has allocated $120 million to the USO parks, I'm sure most of this money will go to this development.

I'm sure Universal thinks it has pulled off a major coup, but I don't think this is going to make that big of a difference. I see this more as Disney playing the part of the Tortise and Universal as the Hare... Yes, Universal will get all the good press and Disney is look like they lost the race, but Disney will win in the end. I don't think this is going to pay off for Universal as much as they think. With the last HP book coming out in a few weeks and the movies almost over, the "buzz" and popularity of Harry Potter has no where to go but down... Once the last movie comes out, there will not be anything new about Harry Potter. So the overal popularity will drop, especially if something happens to Harry at the end of the book that people will not like (such as Harry dying, jut a rumor)....

This was all going on while Disney was negotiating to purchase Pixar. With Pixar under it's belt now and the great success of some of it's own properties (Pirates), I think Disney has better odds for long term success with these, then they would with Harry Potter. Especially if the rumors about more Pirates movies comes true, the Jungle Cruise movie is as successful as Pirates, and if they can find something good to do with the Muppets.... heh

If popularity drops, that is going to turn Universal in the long run... they will have spent all this time and money, for something that may take an extremely long time to pay-off. Now, if they had done with 2 or 3 years ago, they would have had a huge pay-off, because the movies and books would still be coming out. Doing all of this now, when the whole thing is getting ready to wrap up, may not be the smartest thing to do.....

But hey, these are the same people who have rumored to being paying massive amounts of money for a property they don't own, to replace a love that alot of people still love (I'm refering to Universal replacing Back to the Future with a rumored Simpsons ride).

But this does have me wondering one thing, why didn't Warner Brothers try to get the amusment park rights when they signed the movie distrubution rights many years ago....? Stupid people.... maybe they wouldn't be having issues with their Six Flags properties if they had added Harry Potter themed attractions... hmmm....

I do agree with Jim Hill, that Disney seems to be committed to "interactive" attractions and I think this is the right way to go. Disney has been the innovators for a long time, then they seemed to start doing what other people were doing. But recently, Disney seems to be moving away from "what everyone else is doing" and leading the way with guest interactivity... just look at Buzz, Turtle Talk, Lucky the Dinosaur, the Muppet Mobil Lab, the upcoming Toy Story Midway Mania, Monster's Inc Laugh Floor, and some of their other upcoming projects.... Once again, Disney is working to take theme park attractions into a different direction than everyone else, and this is what is going to keep them in a different league from everyone else....

But hey, no one has confirmed ANY of this yet.....

whew, heh


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