Theme parks SCARE UP big business for Halloween
LOS ANGELES — Halloween is growing so big, it’s scary.
To crank up the fright levels, Universal Studios Hollywood is employing directors and producers of creepy movies and television series to help create new attractions for this year’s Halloween celebration.
Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia has expanded its annual spookfest by an extra weekend and built its biggest outdoor maze ever, a 40,000squarefoot labyrinth haunted by postapocalyptic killers.
And for the first time, Warner Bros. Studios has jumped into the competition for Halloween fans this year by launching a nighttime tour of the Burbank studio lot, plus a screening of two Warner Bros.distributed horror films: “The Conjuring” and “The Conjuring 2.”
The newest Halloween upgrades at Southern California’s theme parks are a testament to the autumn holiday’s freakish growth and profitability.
“Halloween has become high stakes certainly for the biggest theme parks,” said Martin Lewison, a business administration professor and theme park expert from Farmingdale State College in New York. “They always have to stay on top, always have to be cutting edge.”
Nationwide, more than 300 amusement parks operate Halloween attractions, generating at least $500 million in revenue annually, according to Hauntworld, a website based in St. Louis that promotes businesses with “haunted” or Halloween themes.
An annual Halloween industry show in St. Louis that began eight years ago in a 50,000squarefoot hall has grown to 250,000 square feet, including booths that sell scary props, ticketdispensing equipment, lighting and hayride equipment, among other Halloween items, said Larry Kirchner, a spokesman for Hauntworld.
“The number just keeps growing on a level you can’t imagine,” he said.
Most Southern California theme parks charge a separate admission fee to attend the Halloween events that begin in the evening.
Six Flags Magic Mountain allows daytime visitors to stay after dark, but they must buy a wristband to enter the individual horror attractions. The tickets range from $40 to more than $200 for a pass that lets visitors avoid the lines.
At Universal Studios Hollywood, Eli Roth, the producer of such horror films as “Hostel,” “Cabin Fever” and “The Stranger,” has been recruited to remake the park’s iconic tram ride by populating it with maniacal, serial killer clowns.
Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights began Sept. 16 and runs on select nights through Nov. 5.
Roth compared the Halloween mazes and attractions to live concerts or music festivals where large groups share in the experience.
“You can’t replicate the live experience,” Roth said. “You just have to make the pilgrimage and be a part of it.”
Ryan Murphy, the creator of the “American Horror Story” television series, said he wanted to help build a maze haunted by evil spirits, scenes of gore and freak show actors because he always admired the Halloween attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood.
“For me, if your show is made into a theme park ride, you know you’ve made it,” Murphy said.
It’s not the first time that
Universal Studios has turned to horror masters to boost its Halloween attractions.
In 2012, macabre rocker Alice Cooper helped create a Universal Studios maze. Greg Nicotero, executive producer of the hugely popular “Walking Dead” TV series, helped create a permanent zombie attraction for the park this year.
Although Universal Studios paid licensing fees to use branded images and characters, Roth and Murphy say the real lure was helping to promote their creepy style of horror at a park that draws millions of visitors per year.
Roth, co-founder of an online horror channel, Crypt TV, will show video clips from the channel on the television screens of the tram ride during Halloween Horror Nights.
At Warner Bros. Studios, the idea for a new Halloween event was sparked last October when the studio displayed a few props from iconic horror movies. The response was so great that studio executives decided to launch two new evening Halloween tours Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 that focus on the horror movies filmed at the studio.
At Six Flags Magic Mountain, the celebration dubbed Fright Fest started Sept. 17, a week earlier than last year, and runs on select nights through Oct. 30.
This year, an attraction about a post-apocalyptic world has been expanded to three times its previous size to contain fire and fog effects and props that are nearly five stories tall.
Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, which launched its first Halloween event in the 1970s, is unveiling 13 spooky attractions, including a new maze that puts virtual reality goggles on guests to create bigger scares.
For Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks in Anaheim, Halloween is more playful than frightful.
However, Disney California Adventure is trying to lure big crowds this year by promoting the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride’s final Halloween. The attraction will be closed in January to be remade featuring Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” characters.