London's Paramount Park Adds Wallace & Gromit's Aardman Studios

February 25, 2015, 10:03 AM · The proposed theme park outside London has added another intellectual property partner. The London Paramount Entertainment Resort has signed a memorandum of understanding with Aardman Animations to bring Aardman's characters, including Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Pirates! Band of Misfits, to its theme park in North Kent, now seeking government approval for a planned 2020 opening.

London Paramount

The park's developers previously announced IP agreements with Paramount Pictures and the BBC, which could give the park attractions based on franchises including Star Trek, Mission: Impossible and Doctor Who, in addition to Wallace & Gromit.

Aardman previously has licensed Wallace & Gromit to England's Blackpool Pleasure Beach for "Wallace & Gromit's Thrill-O-Matic," which opened in 2013. Here's a ride-through of that attraction:

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2006, and three previous Wallace & Gromit shorts won Oscars in the Best Animated Short Film category. Yet the only U.S. theme park to feature an Aardman creation to date was Universal Studios Hollywood, which displayed sets, props and models from Aardman's Chicken Run in a walk-through attraction in the now-torn-down Soundstage 13 on the Upper Lot during the summer of 2000. The original Chicken Run sets and models were lost in a fire at Aardman's warehouse in 2005.

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Replies (6)

February 25, 2015 at 11:19 AM · This park sounds better with each announcement, and has a nice balance of global and locally relevant franchises to make for an entertaining experience.
February 25, 2015 at 1:27 PM · Lets just hope Paramount keeps Michael Bay away from this park.
February 25, 2015 at 6:40 PM · Thats surely going to upset a lot of people in Blackpool..
February 26, 2015 at 5:39 AM · This is the best thing to happen for the UK and London. For years Disneyland in Paris has attracted crowds of tourists, but London has not had a local equivalent.

The high speed railway line gives the theme park a major advantage, as it will take under 30 minutes to get from London City to the doors of the theme park.
http://ebbsfleetinternational.co.uk/?station=paramount-theme-park

BBC have already got plans to host theme rides with popular brands such as Doctor who and Top Gear!!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-30411131

As it's on the doorstep of London, I think that millions of visitors will be from the UK and international visitors may find themselves waiting for tickets to come up! I can't wait to visit and will take my son to the Theme park, as he will be 10 or 12 years old by then.

February 26, 2015 at 3:39 PM · If they get the Tintin attraction rights for this park based on the new movies from Spielberg & Jackson I'm sold!
February 26, 2015 at 7:55 PM · TopGear?

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