Tuesday, Jun 26, 2012
Spiderman, the Avengers, X-Men and a legion of superheroes will be coming to town to stay when the Marvel Comics theme-park opens in Dubai next year.
Marvel Adventure, an indoor family entertainment center spanning 350,000 square feet, is scheduled to open its doors to comic book fans by the end of 2013. Located at the City of Arabia development along Emirates Road, it will include retail outlets selling Marvel merchandise, restaurants and interactive entertainment experiences with Marvel characters.
The theme-park is owned, managed and operated by the Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari (IMG) Group, who announced yesterday the license agreement with Marvel Entertainment to build and operate it. IMG would not reveal the value of the project.
Industry analysts said this is the right time for the Marvel project to enter the Dubai market but it has to be more realistic than the inflated plans for various theme-parks during the boom years.
The strong inflow of tourists into Dubai that are continuously looking for something to do will boost demand for theme parks, said David Camp Director of Economics section in Aecom, a London-based consultancy that issued a theme attractions index for 2011.
The challenge with new leisure developments is they are very expensive to build. They need to make sure the costs and budget are appropriate to the scale of demand, he told Gulf News.
The City of Arabia project was delayed for many years, along with plans for a massive Marvel theme-park, due to the financial crisis.
Things are looking up now and thus the increased interest in building a quality entertainment destination, IMG Group spokesperson told Gulf News in an email.
In Aecoms Theme Index 2011, Dubais Aquaventure ranked 8th and Wild Wadi the 13th in the worlds top 20 water parks.
The announcement comes during a summer sizzling with blockbuster superhero movies in the UAE.
Marvels The Avengers has broken box office records as the biggest industry opening ever in the Middle East and is already the third most successful film of all time. The Amazing Spiderman will also be opening this summer, followed by Iron Man 3 in May 2013 and Thor 2 later in 2013.
By Deena Kamel Yousef, Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
