Earning hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, Shrek inspired multiple sequels and went on to become the top-grossing animation franchise of all time, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. With that level of popularity with families, perhaps it was inevitable that Shrek would become a theme park fixture, despite the many jabs thrown at parks in the original and its sequels.
Two years after its debut, in May 2003, Universal Studios opened Shrek 4-D at its parks in Florida and California. True to its source story, the show took plenty of shots at other theme park attractions, including Disney's Star Tours. I reviewed the show for the Los Angeles Times, writing:
It's not the only reference to Disney in Shrek 4-D, which opens with a frog trying to eat Tinkerbell and ends with the poor little Disney fairy smashed into the theater wall. The original "Shrek" ridiculed the shallowness of Disney's animated fairy tales and the sterility of its theme parks. Shrek 4-D doesn't directly attack Disney's parks, but it does land its punch by being far more entertaining than anything a Disney park has opened in years.
Seven years later, Universal expanded its use of Shrek at the new Universal Studios Singapore, placing Shrek 4-D into King Harold's Palace in a Far Far Away-themed land that also included an Enchanted Airways Vekoma family coaster, an indoor kiddie Ferris wheel, a live show, meet and greets, and, as of last year, a Zamperla inverted family coaster, Puss In Boots' Giant Journey.
And this fall, Motiongate Dubai will create a full replica of Shrek's swamp in a theme park for the first time, as part of the indoor DreamWorks Zone at the new park, which opens in October.
Shrek's swamp will include Shrek's Merry Fairy Tale Journey, "a heartfelt interactive ride where Shrek meets Fiona for the first time, reincarnated as puppets and animated figures," according to the park. In addition, Shrek, Fiona, Puss in Boots, and the Fairy Godmother will appear in meet and greets and the area also will feature a table-service restaurant, The Candy Apple, serving "British-American" fare.
Motiongate is part of Dubai Parks & Resorts, not Universal, so it won't include the Shrek 4-D show. But with Universal's parent company recently buying DreamWorks Animation, it's likely that Shrek — in some form or another — likely will continue to find a home in theme parks for many years to come.
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Anywho...Shrek has promise as a fully realized land at Universal. I think they could add to what theyve done at Singapore, but I don't know where they'd put the new area. Third gate?
"Universal needs to develop classic Dreamworks attractions that can last decades and not go away for something new."
Well, Shrek 4-D has been around for over 13 years without any substantial changes. Disney's best "classic" attractions are not based on any films, and I'd argue that aside from Peter Pan, none of the film based attractions have been around for "decades". Snow White's Scary Adventures at Disneyland is probably the only exception, but line lengths would suggest its popularity waned long ago. Even with the Snow White films over the past few years - Snow White and the Huntsman, Mirror Mirror, and Winter's War (none from Disney I'll note), there as now been any increase in interest in the aging attraction.
I think Universal is doing just fine running Shrek until it's lagging popularity reaches a critical mass. In fact, Universal is been one of the best at converting existing flexible ride systems to keep up with changing tastes and new popular franchises. I think that by using an existing IP, you're setting yourself up for having to refresh the attraction or change the IP 10-15 years down the road. Nostalgia can only drive attendance so much. At some point you have to give people something new.
As said above by many Disney has many ip's that don't have a sequel in the making (thank god for that have you seen Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time, or Little Mermaid 2 and 3). Their rides are mostly still there.
The Potter books sold between +50 and +100 million and still new editions arrive in bookstores. It's a classic coming of age story. Sure the movies will get old and probably remade in the future but books are read by millions over and over again and passed on to other generations to enjoy.
The Potermore website is very much alive and gets regular bits and pieces to read, written by Rowling and this year another movie from that universe will be in the cinema's and Harry Potter And The Cursed Child will be on stage in London starting this summer.
But if guests will stop being interested in the theme park offering Universal will knock it down to replace it with something new. Their investment was recuperated within 3 months so they won't have a problem doing that but I bet it'll be there longer than the Cars, action, motor stunt show at WDW...oh wait.
"Peter Pan, Mr Toad, and Alice dark rides are significantly more popular than Snow White and Pinnochio." However, the lines for those are still nothing compared to Pirates or Haunted Mansion. I'd also add that Peter Pan's lines (and Mr. Toad to a lesser extent) are more attributable to the ride system than the franchise's popularity. Both dark rides have significantly lower capacity than most other Disney dark rides. Additionally at Disneyland, there's very little else that can be done with those spaces in Fantasyland without completely gutting the area. That's why those attractions have only gone through minor tweaks because each of those 4 dark rides just beyond Sleeping Beauty's Castle take up very small footprints by modern dark ride standards.
The Grinch was 1984?? Really!? WOW! I would have thought the 70s at the latest. I feel old.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas was written long before the 80s. I don't know exactly what year the book came out, but the animated adaptation came out in 1966, so the book had to have been published sometime before that. But you know what? That just proves your point even further!
And Russel, if you think Snow White's popularity is fading, you clearly haven't been to MK over the past year. The lines for 7DMT are atrocious...
I stand by my statement regarding the DL Fantasyland attractions. Those are shoe-horned into such small spaces that there's very little that can be done with them. If Disney could update those attractions, they probably would (there were rumors that Mr. Toad was on the chopping block, but was ultimately saved because Disney couldn't come up with anything that was discernibly better).
The DL version of Pooh suffers because of its location at a dead end. I wouldn't be surprised to see its popularity increase once Star Wars Land creates through traffic past Pooh.
@66.87.123.26 - I specifically called out Snow White's Scare Adventures at DL, not 7DMT. I would contest that 7DMT is not popular because of the IP, but instead because MK visitors are so desperate for a thrill ride (even though it's not terribly thrilling). That attraction probably would have similar popularity if it were themed to Beauty and the Beast or Mulan, simply because it's a new coaster. MK was doing just fine when they dumped Snow White to build Fairytale Hall in 2012.
Except to let them continue as classic attractions. They are being updated. You conveniently forget Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland both received recent updates. Whether they should be updated is besides the point. Your other arguments are pretty much nonsense. The Little Mermaid only recently was made into a ride using the Haunted Mansion omnimover ride vehicles. That the line is only ten minutes means it is quite a people mover. So it can't be a bad thing. Plus the ride is based on the ORIGINAL MOVIE, no SEQUELS.
Now you're saying Pooh might be more popular. It is already very popular at the Magic Kingdom using old tech and the concept was duplicated at Hong Kong and Shanghai. Old tech is good and not merely good enough.
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