WDI Changes their minds again... Harry Potter News

Kwit35

New Member
Originally posted by DarkMeasures
Well since Harry Potter is a book, wouldn't it be better for it to be in Fantasyland?
Fantasyland is all cute stuff. There isn't anything cute about Harry.
 

Senderella

Member
Originally posted by Kwit35
I think Mr. Potter will be around for quite a long time. Just like LOTR.


I definately hope youre right! I'm sure after book 6 & 7 come out and the movies are done it might fade out a bit. Then again, during the 80s after the 3rd star wars movie was done and there werent plans for phantom, there were STILL a lot of star wars fans! Anythings possible it seems like.

Sen
:goodnevil
 

Kwit35

New Member
Originally posted by Senderella
I definately hope youre right! I'm sure after book 6 & 7 come out and the movies are done it might fade out a bit. Then again, during the 80s after the 3rd star wars movie was done and there werent plans for phantom, there were STILL a lot of star wars fans! Anythings possible it seems like.

Sen
:goodnevil
:sohappy: May the force be with you!
 

Legacy

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted By Kwit35-
Everytime we are in England (at Epcot) there is a meet and great with Mary Poppins. Also, 7 or 8 years is a long time for "just a fad".
And they have Aladin and Jasmine do Meet & Greets in Morocco. The difference between Mary and Harry is that Mary Poppins is a property that has been (and always will be) associated with Disney. Harry Potter is an indepentant property, save for the movies, which are Warner Brothers. If Disney does have the rights, everything they do will be more expensive and complex because of a rival production studio making the movies.

And Harry Potter is just a fad. Yeah, it's been around for 7 or 8 years, but that is spread over five books. That's a little over a year a book... that's a fad. Don't misconstrue is longevity just because it's story has been spread out. They fact is is that regardless the property is still a children's property. It is written for children and on a child's level. The amount of adults who read it is a side affect of good stories, but once the stories are done the fad will be over, the kids will move on and the grown-ups will forget.

I remember being all about Goosebump books in middle school, and even though the books still come out, the fad is dead.

Harry Potter will be a classic, until the last book comes out. They where will it go? The stories are good, but not on par with Tolkien.
 

matt&helen

New Member
And they have Aladin and Jasmine do Meet & Greets in Morocco. The difference between Mary and Harry is that Mary Poppins is a property that has been (and always will be) associated with Disney. Harry Potter is an indepentant property, save for the movies, which are Warner Brothers. If Disney does have the rights, everything they do will be more expensive and complex because of a rival production studio making the movies.

And Harry Potter is just a fad. Yeah, it's been around for 7 or 8 years, but that is spread over five books. That's a little over a year a book... that's a fad. Don't misconstrue is longevity just because it's story has been spread out. They fact is is that regardless the property is still a children's property. It is written for children and on a child's level. The amount of adults who read it is a side affect of good stories, but once the stories are done the fad will be over, the kids will move on and the grown-ups will forget.

I remember being all about Goosebump books in middle school, and even though the books still come out, the fad is dead.

Harry Potter will be a classic, until the last book comes out. They where will it go? The stories are good, but not on par with Tolkien.


Not many people know this, but Mary Poppins was a book also. It was published way before Disney bought the rights and made Mary Poppins immortal. The question is, if Disney did not make Mary Poppins, would any of us know who she was, or have read the book?
Now I'm not a big fan of Harry Potter, but I am the first to admit it is not a fad. Goosebumps or any other series you can come up with cannot compare to what Harry Potter has done.
The Harry Potter rights are spread out quite a bit, and none of us know for sure what Disney has in store for the Potter franchise, but if they pull it off like they have in the past with other attractions, it will make Potter completely unforgettable.
 

kurros

New Member
Originally posted by Legacy
I remember being all about Goosebump books in middle school, and even though the books still come out, the fad is dead.

Interesting you mention that. Wasn't there a planned R.L. Stine/Goosebump area/attraction for Disney-MGM at one point? As I recall it was eventually put back on the shelf once interest wained. Course now its ended up in Anheuser Busch's hands.

I suspect this Harry Potter idea will go the same way...
 

HMFan

New Member
Originally posted by kurros
Interesting you mention that. Wasn't there a planned R.L. Stine/Goosebump area/attraction for Disney-MGM at one point? As I recall it was eventually put back on the shelf once interest wained. Course now its ended up in Anheuser Busch's hands.
Ohhhh.... ahhhhh... the exciting and scary 3D "Haunted Lighthouse" movie... :rolleyes:
 

Legacy

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted By kurros-
Interesting you mention that. Wasn't there a planned R.L. Stine/Goosebump area/attraction for Disney-MGM at one point? As I recall it was eventually put back on the shelf once interest wained.

I suspect this Harry Potter idea will go the same way...
There was a 'Funhouse of Fear' themed after Goosebumps. It was essentially a hall of mirrors on the far end of the Acme Warehouse. It was kinda dull, but get this, it was made simply to capitalize on the popularity of Goosebumps at the time. I have a feeling that if ANYTHING is done with Harry Potter, it will be a simple Hogwarts walk-through, developed mainly to capitalize on the popularity of Harry Potter. The movies are good, but like I said they reason the movies are so popular is because of the appeal of the books. Harry Potter is absolutely flooding the market and in five or six years when the series is done and movies are in the can and something else has distracted society the kids then will be like 'Harry who?'.

Disney will slowly dismantle the Hogwarts walk-through and it will become an urban legand like the Ninja Turtles and Ace Ventura being at Disney.
 

Legacy

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted By HMFan-
Ohhhh.... ahhhhh... the exciting and scary 3D "Haunted Lighthouse" movie...
You mean the movie that was written by RL Stein but is in no way related to the Goosebumps franchise that was built in the Tampa and Willaimsburg Busch Gardens?

Wrong attraction.

The one kurros is refering to was back in the early/mid 90's at MGM. Your'e thinking something completely different.
 

HMFan

New Member
Originally posted by Legacy
You mean the movie that was written by RL Stein but is in no way related to the Goosebumps franchise that was built in the Tampa and Willaimsburg Busch Gardens?

Wrong attraction.

The one kurros is refering to was back in the early/mid 90's at MGM. Your'e thinking something completely different.
No, kurros specifically referred to and I quote:
As I recall it was eventually put back on the shelf once interest wained. Course now its ended up in Anheuser Busch's hands.
.

Last I checked Anheuser Busch owned Busch Gardens Tampa and Willaimsburg. kurros wasn't looking for a "once existed" attraction, kurris was looking for the one that went to BG instead.
 

kurros

New Member
No need for it to get messy! I don't know if what BG got is anything like what would have been at Disney-MGM, but I was just saying that it seems R.L. Stine is working with Anheuser Busch now.

I believe what I read about might have been the "funhouse" that Legacy mentioned. I just thought something more fleshed out was planned at some point.

I was merely regurgitating what I had read (probably here). Didn't mean to start contention. I added the Anheuser Busch part in after I remembered an attraction opened there recently.
 

Bill

Account Suspended
Original Poster
Perhaps this makes more sense... Disney has U.S. Theme Park rights for Harry Potter... :)
 

HMFan

New Member
Originally posted by Bill
Perhaps this makes more sense... Disney has U.S. Theme Park rights for Harry Potter... :)
Still doesn't make sense to me as AOL Time/Warner still holds all of the rights.
 

Bill

Account Suspended
Original Poster
You mean the Time Warner deal holds movie rights.

I know for a fact Disney has US Theme Park rights.:D
 

kurros

New Member
Just a minor nit, but they haven't been called AOL Time Warner since September. Just Time Warner again.

Sorry, they are a former employer so I do that sometimes. :zipit:
 

kurros

New Member
Yes Jim Bill ;). Do you have any more documentation on this besides what that Universal president said almost a year ago?

It's certainly possible things have changed since then. He only said Disney had the rights "wrapped up", which doesn't really imply contracts or anything.
 

Bill

Account Suspended
Original Poster
Well, if you count having physically hearing... as in listening in to an imagineer's phone conversation... plans for the attraction, then yea. Add that in with the fact that Eisner was there too. I think it's safe to say Disney owns the theme park rights. Don't you? LOL. And this happened before the Universal Chief found out.
 

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