Why wait? Universal Studios to add ‘Nope’ to tour on movie launch day
Universal Studios Hollywood is known for theme park attractions that pay homage to movies that have been fan favorites for years.
The park’s Studio Tour attraction includes movie scenes from Steven Spielberg’s 2005 “War of the Worlds,” the creepy house from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 “Psycho” and Courthouse Square from Robert Zemeckis’ 1985 “Back to the Future.”
But Universal Studios plans to break that routine later this month by adding a scene from a movie that will open to the public on the same day the new attraction opens in the park.
In Hollywood, it’s called cross promotion. In the theme park world, it’s a once-rare occurrence that is becoming more common.
Last year, Disneyland completed and opened an overhaul of its Jungle Cruise attraction around the same time the Disney movie “Jungle Cruise” was opening in theaters. A few months after Jordan Peele’s 2019 horror movie, “Us,” was released by Universal Pictures, Universal Studios Hollywood added a Halloween attraction to its annual Halloween Horror Nights event. At Disney California Adventure Park, a 12-acre expansion called Cars Land opened in 2012, a year after the Disney Pixar sequel, “Cars 2,” opened in theaters.
The latest Universal Pictures movie directed by Peele, “Nope,” is set to open July 22. A scene from the movie will be added that day to the Studio Tour attraction that gives parkgoers a tram ride through several movie sets, including the 1975 classic “Jaws.”
The trams will drive past what is known in “Nope” as Jupiter’s Claim, a family-fun theme park that becomes a pivotal location as the horror film’s characters investigate unexplained phenomena. No existing scene will be removed from the tram ride to make way for the latest addition, according to park representatives.
Peele’s three movies, including “Get Out,” were produced through Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of the company that operates Universal Studios Hollywood.