Viacom's Paramount Pictures and Daewoo will build Korean theme park

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures Corp. will build a $1 billion theme park in South Korea, the U.S. entertainment group's first amusement resort outside North America. The Hollywood film producer, known for hits such as "Titanic" and "Mission Impossible", will build the resort with Daewoo Motor Sales Corp. in the airport city of Inchon, south of Seoul, aiming to lure a growing number of Asian tourists as well as South Korea's affluent population. It will be completed by 2014.

Read more from Reuters.

This make no sense! Why would Viacom/Paramount want to re-enter the theme park business, when they just liquidated their holdings in the US market?! I guess I will never understand corporations, especially the film making giants and their reasoning.

It makes sense, just another company sending stuff overseas or just wanting a new market. I mean, seriously just because a company doesn't want to have something in the US, does it make them such a horrible company?

Backstabbers!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL ;)

phooenixphan:) ... you are so right ,why would build a theme park in Korea if you just sold the farm , and the sheep ,ducks and cows to Cedar Fair. It really makes no sence unless Viocom thinks they can capture the eastern crowd???? Not A country on the brink of financial prosparity. Or Am I missing something?

yes ,very true also p18 .There could be a whole new market for viocom offered by paramount parks in Korea. More affluency and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ can stimulate??/

Guys... get your time lines right. Viacom did not sell the Paramount Parks to Cedar Fair. PP was a part of CBS Corp., which split off a couple of years ago now.

This might finally be the right way to do a Paramount theme park. I just don't think that slapping on movie props and names on what had traditionally been regional theme parks heavy on minimally themed (or none for that matter) rides and roller coasters.

Jeff... You're absolutely right about getting timelines right. Actually The split has not been a couple years, as a matter of fact, is is just under a year and a half. At any rate, CBS Corp., in their justification for selling their Paramount park chain, was quoted as saying: "They're [Paramount Parks] about 2 percent of our profit, 2 percent of our asset base and 2 percent of our cash flow. [But] they were using a lot of capital, anywhere from $45 million to $50 million per year."

Flat growth means theme park groups must grow by acquisition, and CBS had no desire to become a larger theme park company. Further, Reynolds said, the parks are CBS's most expensive components to maintain, he said.

"Each ride costs $8 million to $12 million," he said. "We don't spend that in five years at a TV station."

Regardless, CBS Corp. has made it abundantly clear that North America is not a interest they intend to pursue... so one must ask, why Asia?

External Links:

CBS Corp. To sell it's 6 theme parks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052200453.html?nav=rss_artsandliving/entertainmentnews

You're not sharing anything we haven't seen a hundred times. CBS Corp. isn't interested in Asia, Viacom is. And why? New market that is (apparently) hungry for American-style entertainment.

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