SEOUL, Korea, July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Governor Hong Joon-pyo, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, Jeffrey Godsick, president of Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products, and Tim Fisher, CEO of Village Roadshow Theme Parks, announced the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreements to plan for Korea's first international theme park and resort destination, Twentieth Century Fox World, at 11:00 KST, July 16, 2014 at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Korea Press Foundation. The proposed park will be part of a larger development in the Republic of Korea known as the Ungdong Entertainment Complex.
Initial plans for Twentieth Century Fox World Korea include a theme park spanning more than 75 acres of land and will be part of a 700 plus acre leisure resort and development that will bring to life a fully immersive entertainment experience featuring some of Fox's most recognized and beloved film and television brands. The park will be located in the Ungdong Area of Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone, Jinhae-gu, Changwon City. Operating partner Village Roadshow, one of the leading independent entertainment companies in the world, joins the group as a design and development consultant, and the manager of the studio theme park.
"We are signing the agreements and moving forward with plans for our global theme park project with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products to develop a world-leading theme park and with Village Roadshow to operate the theme park. We will make every effort to successfully develop this global theme park through close cooperation with Fox and Village Roadshow. Once the theme park is completed, we expect more than 10 million foreign and local tourists will visit and the local economy will be boosted by creating 30,000 jobs, which is equivalent to attracting 100 manufacturing businesses," said Governor Hong Joon-pyo.
"Korea provides a unique opportunity for an international theme park destination that will be incredibly attractive to both a thriving domestic consumer as well as a quickly growing tourist market from China, Japan and across Asia," said Jeffrey Godsick, president of Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products. "Our efforts in working with the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Government for a Twentieth Century Fox World theme park in the Republic of Korea illustrate our commitment to growing our global entertainment destination brand and a monumental step to further engage and connect with our audiences in key markets."
"We are honored to work with Village Roadshow to develop a premiere theme park for the Republic of Korea that brings to life our globally-embraced film and television brands through richly themed environments and immersive and exciting narrative-based attractions," said Greg Lombardo, vice president, global location based entertainment at Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products.
"Village Roadshow Theme Parks is very excited to have the opportunity to work with the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Government and Twentieth Century Fox on the planning, design, development and operation of the theme park. With properties like Alien, Ice Age and Planet of the Apes, we believe this studio theme park will offer consumers in Korea and Asia the best theme park experience in the history of the industry," said Tim Fisher, the CEO of Village Roadshow Theme Parks.
The announcement of the plans to develop Twentieth Century Fox World Korea joins a host of groundbreaking location based entertainment announcements from Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products. Fox Consumer Products recently announced Fox's first ever theme park, Twentieth Century Fox World, set to open in Malaysia in 2016. The park will feature a fully immersive entertainment experience featuring some of Fox's most recognized and powerful film brands. Fox Consumer Products also announced the expansion of Springfield at Universal Studios Hollywood, coming in spring 2015, and has seen great success with the expansion of Springfield USA in August 2013, a full immersive experience for fans of The Simpsons at Universal Orlando resort.
About Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products:
A division of 21st Century Fox and recognized industry leader, Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products licenses and markets properties worldwide on behalf of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Television and Fox Broadcasting Company, as well as third party lines. The division is aligned with Twentieth Century Fox Television, the flagship studio leading the industry in supplying award-winning and blockbuster primetime television programming and entertainment content.
About Village Roadshow Theme Parks
Part of Village Roadshow Limited, a leading international entertainment and media company, Village Roadshow Theme Parks (VRTP) is an international theme park operator with operations in Australia, the United States and China. The Company is Australia's largest theme park operator with Warner Bros. Movie World, Sea World, Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast, Paradise Country, Australian Outback Spectacular, Village Roadshow Studios, Sea World Resort and the country's newest theme park Wet'n'Wild Sydney. In the United States, VRTP is the majority owner and operator of Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas in Nevada. VRTP also is advising on design and construction of a new mega park development, including a water park and marine park, on Hainan Island in China and will subsequently operate the parks under a management agreement.
Media Contacts:
Erin O'Brien, 20th Century Fox
310.369.5140, Erin.Obrien@fox.com
Kim Jun-yol
Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Government
055-211-3146, kimjunyol@korea.kr
Source: Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products
