Lionsgate Opens China Theme Park; Lime Pictures Options ‘Keeping Mum’ – Global Briefs

Nancy Tartaglione

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Lionsgate Entertainment World, the studio’s first Asian theme park, opened its doors today in Hengqin, China. Featuring over 30 attractions, it includes seven based on The Hunger Games, Twilight, the Divergent series, Now You See Me, Gods Of Egypt and Escape Plan. Each of the properties is well known in China, with notable recent success for the Now You See Me movies (a NYSM live stage show was launched in Beijing last year) and Escape Plan. Underperformer Gods Of Egypt counts China as its biggest market having outgrossed domestic. Jenefer Brown, Lionsgate’s SVP, Global Live and Location Based Entertainment, tells Deadline, “This is a great way for the studio to take a film that didn’t do as well in other places but is a great fit for this market.” The Gods Of Egypt attraction is a purpose-built indoor VR roller-coaster (see left). Lionsgate is well-versed in taking its IP on the road, with attractions in Dubai, Las Vegas and the Lionsgate Movie World due to open in Korea in 2022.

Lime Pictures in the UK has optioned Keeping Mum, the debut novel by James Gould-Bourn, and will adapt it as a live-action TV series. The book is the story of a Danny Malooley, a single parent with an 11-year-old son, Will, who hasn’t spoken since the death of his mother in a car crash 14 months ago. When Danny takes a job as a street performer in a panda suit, he is able to communicate with his son who is unaware it’s his dad in diguise. Orion will publish in the UK in June next year, Scribner has North American rights. Head of Drama and YA for Lime, exec producer Louise Sutton will develop Keeping Mum. Lime Pictures is best known for producing Channel 4’s long running drama Hollyoaks, MTV’s Geordie Shore, ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex and most recently the Emmy winning Netflix Original series Free Rein.

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