Tourists pose for photos at Universal Studios Singapore, May 30, 2011. (Photo : Xinhua)
Executives from Universal Studios have signed a formal agreement with Chinese officials to build its largest theme park, Universal Studios Beijing, in the capital’s east Tongzhou District, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Monday.
The deal was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in September the previous year and was directly led by the local government of Beijing.
The city's executive vice mayor, Li Shixiang, was present at the signing ceremony at the NBCUniversal headquarters in New York on Sunday, the report said.
Under the contract, a joint venture will be set up to construct the 296-acre theme park for $3.3 billion. The project will also spend an additional $3.5 billion developing the area around the park, including a subway expansion and other infrastructure projects.
The park, which is scheduled to open in 2019, is expected to attract a total investment of 50 billion yuan ($7.98 billion), the report said.
According to industry website Theme Park Insider, the first stage of the project will include a Universal CityWalk retail-entertainment complex and a Universal resort hotel, both set to be completed in five years, while another theme park, a water park, and five other hotels are planned to be built in the second stage.
Other proposed attractions for the park include the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Transformers, Revenge of the Mummy, Jurassic Park, and DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar.
Traditional and modern Chinese culture elements have been incorporated in the planning to boost the park's appeal to foreign tourists, a spokesman from the culture and tourism administration bureau of Tongzhou District said. The U.S. side has also tapped Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg for the design of the park.
Universal Studios currently operates five theme parks, namely, Los Angeles and Orlando in the U.S., Osaka, Japan, and Sentosa in Singapore.
