Thursday, May 17, 2018

Will Universal Hollywood New "Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor's Quest" Attraction Use Dynamic Attractions Stunning Motion Theatre ?



A new rendering was released three days ago for Universal Studios Hollywood newest attraction which will open June 15 - "Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor's Quest" - starring the beloved Panda from Dreamworks animated films and cutting-edge projection-mapping that will place guests in the middle of an action-adventure happening in China. It's a theater experience "featuring seats that gyrate and shift to bring the story to life — with water, smoke, wind and other effects to boot". Okay, that means another projection attraction for Universal and it looks like a 4D theater like "Honey i Shrunk the Kids" but in fact it's may be not really. First, it replaces the Shrek 4D theatre attraction which was already a projection attraction, so it's not really like if Universal was destroying a ride with plenty of Audio-Animatronics to replace it by a projection-only attraction. Yes you'll have the usual "water, smoke, wind and other effects" but technically it might be much more sophisticated.

The real star of "Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor's Quest" will be in fact the seven high-definition projectors that will project moving images on a 180-degree surface. The mapping technology has become popular everywhere but the tech that should wow the guests should be the theatre itself. I'm not totally "dead sure" that it will use this but Universal may use the new Dynamic Attractions incredible Motion Theatre, see rendering below.



Dynamic Attractions unveiled this new motion theatre in 2016 at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions and it was a game changing concept. Back in November 2016, TPU did an article about it, describing the system as "a large circular theater of seats that can not only spin 360 degrees, but can also pitch and tilt as well. What makes the Motion Theater, created by Dynamic Attractions, really spectacular is the ability to combine movie screens with practical effects. Imagine entering a circular theater that is completely surrounded by movie screens. The seats can pitch and turn with the action on film. However, those screens can be wheeled away at key moments revealing practical sets filled with lighting, special effects and animatronics, if you choose."

As you can read, if Universal newest attraction use the Dynamic Attractions motion theatre, it should be a totally new kind of experience for Universal Hollywood guests. Nothing is better than a video to understand perfectly, so here is the official one from Dynamic Attraction presenting their motion theatre.




Looks cool, right? Now, we'll know in less than a month if this motion theatre will be used for "Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor's Quest", but if it is not there is high chances that this new motion theatre will be used ( though some are saying that Universal won't use it to meet deadline ) for the other new attraction coming at Universal Orlando replacing the great Terminator 2 3D attraction, which should be the next big announcement for Uni Orlando and should have a new theme based on the Jason Bourne license movies. In this case this new motion theatre would be perfect for a Jason Bourne attraction, with action probably close visually to the kind of scene we can see on the above Dynamic Attractions rendering and video!

Pictures: copyright Universal, Dynamic Attractions

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