The IAAPA Attractions Expo was the launch pad this month for a range of new location-based entertainment programs as well as arcade machines of all stripes.

Mixed in was the continued emergence of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies that are increasingly making headway across attractions of all stripes from roller coasters to escape rooms. While there were some VR deployed with licensed properties in evidence at IAPPA, other companies were showcasing new technologies as proofs-of concept. Overall, more than 80 exhibitors demonstrated VR in some form, up from about 60 in 2017.

“With most of these you could probably do as well with a non-licensed as with a licensed version, but the marketing is easier because people recognize the story or the title already, says Triotech’s Christian Martin, whose VR company licensed “Fear the Walking Dead” for escape rooms in Las Vegas (Fremont Street Experience) and Indonesia. “With VR, many people want to try it because of the technology, and then they recognize the game.”

Among developments at IAPPA

• Lionsgate plans to launch the first of several Lionsgate Entertainment City operations in New York in August 2019, with a second one to follow in Madrid, Spain in the fall, says Lionsgate’s Jenefer Brown.

The 45,000-sq.-ft facility in New York’s Times Square will feature a “Mad Men” lounge/restaurant along with areas themed around Hunger Games, John Wick, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Divergent and God’s of Egypt. The Madrid location will add a horror-themed attraction built around Saw and other Lionsgate properties. Licensee Parques Reunidos will operate both attractions.

In location-based entertainment licensing, Lionsgate has developed three brands: Lionsgate Entertainment City(smaller locations like New York), Lionsgate Movie World (a theme park that licensee Landing International Development plans to open on Jeju Island in South Korea in 2020) and Lionsgate Entertainment World (a 237,000-sq.-ft. indoor park that licensee Laisun Group in opening in Hengqin, China in spring 2019). The facilities will features virtual reality and augmented reality technology. And themed-areas and rides also will be designed for regional markets. For example, Now You See Me, which is popular in China, is being featured in the park there. The China park also will have the first Twilight VR ride.

“The goal is to establish Lionsgate as a player in location-based entertainment and make sure consumers are aligning the brand with next-generation attraction experiences,” says Brown. “We are looking broadly at the market” and tailoring the attraction to the space available.” Along those lines, Lionsgate licensee Egan Productions opened a 10,000-sq.-ft. Saw-themed escape room earlier this year in Las Vegas.

• PBS is making its first foray into the location-based space, hiring Falcon’s Creative Group to design and develop a 30,000-sq.-ft. facility to highlight the public broadcaster’s brand. A location and specific details haven’t been set, but the space would emphasize PBS’ science, technology, arts and nature programming. PBS will seek a licensee to operate the facility, which will have rotating exhibits, be designed for mall-based and free-standing locations and sell PBS merchandise, says PBS’ Dawn Ciccone. It also will likely highlight PBS Kids programming. “We are always talking about the brand attributes and how it is about exploration, discovery and innovation. This seems to be real interesting way to do that because it cuts across all demographics of our audience,” says Ciccone. Falcon’s also designed the 60,000-sq.-ft. “National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey” that licensee SPE Partners opened last fall in New York. SPE has since signed a deal to develop up to 10 National Geographic locations in Saudi Arabia, the first of which is scheduled to open in Riyadh next year.

• SimEx-Iwerks has opened “The Simpsons in 4D” in Myrtle Beach, SC, combining an Aztec Theater with a Kwik-E-Mart (locations from Fox show). The theater highlights The Simpsons characters, shows a 10-minute film and leads into the Kwik-E-Mart that sells merchandise and staple foods and beverages from the show. The Kwik-E-Mart opened in September with the theater to follow by year-end, says SimEx-Iwerks’ Howard Brodsky. Other entertainment-themed locations are being considered for areas with high foot traffic, but without easy access to major theme parks. “It (The Simpsons) is a great experiment and learning process for us into the whys and ways of doing something like this and gives us a proof of concept,” says Brodsky.

• SEGA Amusement International’s Jelly Belly Game

  Crayola will open its fifth Crayola Experience store in Chandler, AZ in the spring, testing a smaller, 20,000-sq.-ft. format that is about half the size of the four other locations (Bloomington, MN; Orlando; Plano, TX and Easton, PA). Crayola began expanding Experience stores in 2015, after its initial location near the corporate headquarters in Easton, PA. proved popular. “People want to connect more with the brands that they are watching and playing with so to have a larger experience makes a lot of sense,” says a spokesman for Thinkwell, which helped design the stores.

• A 4,000-sq.-ft. Paw Patrol Adventure Bay children’s play area has opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN as the most recent extension of the seven-acre Nickelodeon Universe indoor theme park.

• In addition to “Fear the Walking Dead,” Triotech’s VR-based maze featuring Ubisoft’s “Rabbids” videogame IP (“Raving Rabbbids”) has been installed in 60 locations globally, including family entertainment centers, escape rooms, bowling alleys and movie theaters, using a 10×10-foot space and HTC’s Vive VR headset. Triotech also developed a version using Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed title (“Assassin’s Creed: Temple of Anibus”) that was released in September. Meanwhile, North American distributor Creative Works demonstrated Hologate’s VR-based technology tied to Rovio Entertainment’s Angry Birds 2 film that’s due in September 2019 and Smaaash Labs Entertainment demonstrated its VR-based Jurassic Escape four-person ride. On the licensed side, Minority Media show its non-licensed four-player “Chaos Jump” VR game in hopes of eventually adding a license to for the title, says company executives. Family Entertainment Group recently installed Chaos Jump at its Camelback Lodge in Pennsylvania. Many of the non-licensed VR attractions can be installed as a “proof of concept” to serve as a conversation-starter with licensors, says Minority Media’s Vander Caballero.

• Newly licensed machines are headed for the arcades. Sega Amusements International showed a prototype Jelly Belly branded redemption (games that reward players with prize tickets) game featuring a 65-inch LCD, and a Transformers Shadow Rising machine containing a 55-inch high-definition display inside a Optimus Prime-themed cabinet.. Bay Tek Entertainment launched its Connect 4 Hoops basketball shooting game at Dave & Busters and is testing a Trolls-licensed four-player rotating redemption game at a Chuck E. Cheese family entertainment center in Green Bay, WI. The inbound licensing is in addition to an outbound program for Bay Tek’s Skee-Ball brand that has so far gained seven licensees. Bay Tek has been building out its licensing business since acquiring agent Dimensional Branding Group in late 2016. Licensing accounts for about 30% of Bay Tek’s annual revenue, up from less than 10% a few years ago, says Bay Tek’s Holly Hampton.

Contacts:

Bay Tek Games, Holly Hampton, Innovation Dir., 920-833-2951 x1707, hhampton@baytekgames.com

Falcon’s Creative Group, Daryl White, VP Global Licensing and Business Development, 407-909-9350, dwhite@falconscreativegroup.com

PBS, Dawn Ciccone, Head of Licensing,  202-679-6512, dlciccone@pbs.org

SimEx-Iwerks, Howard Brodsky, Mgr. Licensing and Distribution, 661-678-1818, hbrodsky@iwerks.com