Game Developer of Angry Birds to Build 9 Theme Parks in Anhui Province

    Finnish Rovio Company, game developer of Angry Birds announced that it is planning to build 9 Angry Birds theme parks in China in the coming four years.
    Pekka Rantala, COO for Entertainment Department of Rovio said that, “China is a crucial market for us.” “We’re delighted that the “Angry Birds” will be closer to its Chinese funs in the future and the theme parks will create places that can involve all family members.”
    Yang Luyi, Manager of Market Department, Rovio Shanghai Office told World Company that, they are now cooperating with Anhui Goocoo Commercial Management Group. And 9 Angry Bird theme parks will all be constructed in Anhui Province and extensions in other places will be considered only after completion of them.   
    Yang Luyi: We have just signed contract with Goocoo Group and 9 theme parks will be constructed in Anhui Province, China in the next four years. We call them park group and extensions will only arrive at other places after completion of them.

    In fact, the first “Angry Bird” theme park in Asia with the area of 10,000 m2 has already been launched in Haining, Zhejiang Province early last autumn. The adult price of it is RMB 80 per person and it is free for children under the height of 0.8 m. According to Yang, land area of 9 theme parks to be constructed is ranging from thousands of square meters to tens of thousands of square meters and will not be built into the scale the same as the Disney World.

    Yang Luyi: In fact, they can be divided into indoor parks and outdoor parks. For indoor ones, the area may range from thousands of square meters to over ten thousand square meters, while for outdoor ones, the larger ones may cover the area of tens of thousands of square meters. We already have many theme parks in Finland, either indoor or outdoor. We certainly hope to open many parks in China, but no one will have the scale of Disney World.

    Theme park seems to be a hot industry in China currently. After the Disney World settled down in Hong Kong and Shanghai, the Universal Studios, international theme park giant was set in Tongzhou, Beijing recently. The Madame Tussaud, famous brand of Merlin Entertainments Group from the UK is opened in Beijing this May; at the end of June, site of the first “Six Flags Scenic Town” project in China of American Six Flags has been placed in Beijing, Tianjin and Hubei regions. Total investment of this project is about RMB 30 billion and it is expected to open in 2018.
    International theme park giants have successively set foot in China. However, studies show that there are about 300 theme parks with the investment of above RMB 50 million in China, among which 10% are well operated, 20% are flat and 70% are in the red.
    Under such circumstances, why do the companies still invest in this industry? It is understood that theme parks in China can be divided into four types, the first is amusement parks, i.e. the Happy Valley under Overseas Chinese Town; second is artificial scene theme parks with the themes of film studios or TV programs, i.e. the Zhejiang Hengdian World Studios; third is sightseeing theme parks such as Splendid China, Window of the World and China Folk Culture Villages; fourth is specific theme parks represented by ocean theme parks of Haichang Holdings and Dalian Shengya. Hou Tao, Vice President of the entgroup.cn considers that for construction of theme parks in China, the companies are mainly about their full industry chain instead of profitability of the parks.

    Hou Tao: We can take the commune built by Huayi in Guanlan Lake for example, it can not only offer a nice place for visitors, but also provide an outdoor scene base for it to shoot films or dramas. This is a channel to realize its benefits and can also provide certain services for propagating the film works of Huayi. Despite of low income of the park itself, it can drive the box office and audience ratings of movies and dramas made by Huayi and can coordinate the development of its entire industry. The theme parks built in China now are generally incorporated in full industrial chain, but not simple parks to attract tourists.

    According to analyses, theme parks in China are insufficient in their cultural core competitiveness, so the operational model of “park + real estate" are frequently adopted. For instance, in the late 1980s, the Overseas Chinese Town successively invested about RMB 1.8 billion in Shenzhen Bay to construct 4 theme parks i.e. the Splendid China, China Folk Culture Villages, Window of the World and Happy Valley, turning the wasteland into a tourism city and rising the prices of surrounding real estate constructed by the company.
    Some scholars consider that the "park + real estate" model is practical in certain periods, but it must be rectified in the long run to return theme parks to their cultural connotations. Moreover, in the current era with declining real estate industry, it is doubted that whether this model can continue its way. However, Hou Tao, Vice President of the entgroup.cn still considers that the “park + real estate” model has certain development potential.

    Hou Tao: In the real estate development of the past decade, real estate services were the only concern. In the coming ten years, real estate may be combined with commercial centers and cultural projects. As the pillar industry of China, real estate still has certain potential and opportunities. Popularity is an essential factor for real estate players, and theme parks can not only attract crowds, but also drive the sales of real estate. So the future real estate industry may no longer simply concern about the sales of houses, but should be combined with other services. This may also be a direction.