The Hunger Games Is Getting Its Own Theme Park?

Looks like The Hunger Games may be exchanging its arena ties for amusement park ones instead. The New York Times is reporting that Lionsgate is considering a series of theme park attractions based on some of its films, including The Hunger Games, Divergent, Now You See Me, Step Up—even possibly Twilight.

Much like Warner Brothers, Lionsgate would not build the parks on their own but instead license out the properties to other existing parks. The plan would see the Lionsgate films as the main attractions in new parks near Atlanta and Macau, but entirely built by other companies. A “Lionsgate zone” is already planned as part of a massive 3 billion dollar development between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

While having dance numbers based on Step Up makes sense, obviously creating an amusement park attraction based on a franchise where young people are forced to fight each other to the death for the enjoyment of the upper-class is morally dubious, and one Lionsgate discussed before ultimately deciding to move forward with the project. “The more we thought about it, the more we realized there was a major opportunity—not just to create something smart and captivating that Hunger Games fans would love, but to bring all of our franchises alive in new ways,” said Tim Palen, the studio’s chief brand officer.

Among Hunger Games-inspired concepts announced so far are a roller coaster based on the train that Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) took from District 12 to the Capitol, as well as a hovercraft tour of Panem, the fictional country where the series takes place.  Motiongate, an theme park under construction in the United Arab Emirates, is currently the furthest along, set to debut in 2016. Once it opens, visitors will get to explore the park’s version of District 12 and even visit the bakery where Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) worked.

Also in the works is an “experience center” in China that is expected to open in late 2018. Stateside, Lionsgate is working with developers for Avatron Smart Park, a theme park still in the planning stages. Assuming financing comes through, Avatron Smart Park would open near Atlanta by 2019.

Much more immediately, we have the opening of Mockingjay — Part 2 to look forward to; the film hits theaters on Nov. 20, wrapping up the dystopian film saga based on the original three-book series by Suzanne Collins. What do you make of this news?

Source News: The Nerdist