9/27/14

Potter's Possibility at Universal

So, I'd like to say this. Universal Studios does Halloween REALLY, REALLY well. They know how to make a maze, and they know how to do horror and gore. Potter itself is a franchise filled with possible terrors and scares, with obvious players being death eaters, dark wizards, Fenir Greyback, giants, the spiders, dementors... the list can go on.

So why, after two years, has this combination of talents happened?

First, let's take a moment and realize that a Potter themed horror maze could be a fantastic addition, with one distinct possibility for a location being the Shrieking Shack, as well as Malfoy Mannor, or to better play into Universal's skill with gore, a walk through the forests from Deathly Hallows being chased by Snatchers, wandering into Godric's Hollow and finishing after Harry's house with the Bathilda scene from the movie, or even using the maze from the fourth book and exit out of the graveyard. As a fan, all of these would be great opportunities to merge the threats from the books and Universal's great skill with Halloween.

So why doesn't it happen? A few things are probably responsible actually.

  1. Rowling probably doesn't want to give that right up. This can sort of be seen with what they do with Seuss Landing where Seuss's wife told them what they couldn't do. 
  2. Marvel. This is an odd excuse, but this is an example of Universal messing up something they were licensed to use. One year, they had a little thing called "Maximum Carnage" in this, Carnage killed a lot of major marvel heroes and littered trophies around the maze. This is why we can't have nice things. While there are rumors that Marvel disapproved and later barred any use of their characters in Halloween again, the house was poorly received, partially due to the dead heroes. This is more or less an example of EVERYTHING that could go wrong if Rowling isn't careful with Universal, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say I think this is exactly why we don't see any haunted attractions for Potter now, or possibly any time soon, as it will be its own area and scare free. 
  3. No space: This is the last thing I can think of, as these mazes are fairly detailed and take a good deal of effort. However, I can't say that Universal putting in anything would be impossible, as they are skilled at slipping mazes in. 
Does that all mean it shouldn't happen? No, not quite... I don't think there should be a Maximum-carnage type maze/house, but I think that they can work things that actually featured in the books, and use their talent to bring it to life. But what I think would be better is a more permanent attraction. 

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