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2019.07.23 17:28 GMT+8

'Hunger Games' park in S China's Hengqin set to attract young adults

Updated 2019.07.23 18:14 GMT+8
Liane Ferreira

The "Mockingjay Flight: Rebel Escape" ride and a whole floor dedicated to "Hunger Games"-related outlets will open in Hengqin Island in south China's Guangdong Province on July 31. The park is part of the new Lionsgate project integrated into the Novotown complex under Lai Sun Group.

According to Bloomberg, the "Hunger Games" attraction might be the world's first PG-13 themed park, aimed at attracting 16- to 30-year-old Chinese consumers that go out in groups or on dates. 

Multidimensional map of the Lionsgate Park in Hengqin Island, south China's Guangdong Province. /Photo via Lionsgate Entertainment World official website

Thinkwell Group, based in Los Angeles, helped design the project. The project's creative director Dave Cobb told Bloomberg in an interview that Lai Sun Group asked specifically for an indoor park for "date crowd of China."

Even though the "Hunger Games" premise is violent, with armed teenagers battling each other, the park's design focuses on the thrill and other parts of the story and not the "blood."

Jenefer Brown, who heads live entertainment projects for Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. referred to the park as really unique, sleek, and architecturally amazing.

The signature ride "Mockingjay Flight" can take up to 30 people in a sort of an all-terrain vehicle. 3D projections will take fun-seekers on a wild escape from Capitol's controlled peacekeepers. Electrified nets, fire, and genetically engineered golden wasps "tracker jackers" will take the visitors breath away.

For the saga lovers, there is a whole floor replicating the rich Capitol City. A high-end restaurant, a bakery and a salon where visitors can get the looks from the movies, will also be available.

Lionsgate theme park in Hengqin Island, south China's Guangdong Province. /Courtesy of Lionsgate

Another Lionsgate movie universe attraction is The Twilight rides: "Midnight Ride" and "Bella's Journey." In the first one, visitors race with a pack of wolves in a VR dirt-bike adventure until they meet bloodthirsty newborn vampires. In "Bella's Journey" expect to revisit the whole story. 

The "Divergent" sci-fi series also features in the park with a walk on a 100-story high virtual gangplank, replicating the fear simulator. In the story, characters are "injected" with a serum that will bring their fears to the surface of their brains.

Besides the Lionsgate Entertainment World, Novotown includes a National Geographic Ultimate Explorer "edutainment" experience, with virtual tours of science explorations and wildlife.

Novotown integrated tourism project has five phases, with an investment of more than 18 billion yuan, Novotown managing director Larry Leung told South China Morning Post. Phase one of the project will cost Lai Sun Group around five billion yuan.

Phase two will add an interactive football experience center in partnership with Real Madrid, and a Ducati motorcycle experience center.

Besides the sports-themed attractions, Novotown will also incorporate a bilingual school, Innovation Leadership Academy (ILA), managed and operated by Harrow International (China), a renowned British institution.

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