Getting up close and personal with the dinosaurs of Jurassic World is now closer to home.
The major spectacle, inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster Jurassic Park franchise, now belongs to Cityneon Holdings, a creator of innovative and interactive exhibitions in Singapore.
The mainboard-listed company has acquired full global rights to Jurassic World Exhibition when it entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire all of JP Exhibitions LLC for US$25 million.
The move allows Cityneon to make full use of the exhibition’s intellectual property (IP) rights in partnership with global movie titan Universal Studios, it announced in a Singapore Exchange filing on Wednesday evening.
Jurassic World: The Exhibition is a licensed spin-off from the blockbuster movie Jurassic World, and it brings dinosaurs to life through life-size animatronic and computer-generated imagery (CGI) effects.
The latest purchase is Cityneon’s third IP acquisition and association with a blockbuster movie franchise. The first two were Disney’s Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.0.N. and Hasbro’s Transformers Autobot Alliance.
The Jurassic World Exhibition acquisition also came in the wake of Lucrum 1 Investment’s procurement of 52.5 per cent of Cityneon shares from its previous major shareholder for about US$85 million in July.
It made Lucrum 1, a consortium led by executive chairman and group CEO of Cityneon Ron Tan, the group’s largest shareholder.
With this latest acquisition, Cityneon is able to bring a multi-sensory dinosaur experience to “even more markets around Asia and the rest of the world”, Mr Tan said.
He said Cityneon has always “sought to engage audiences with rich, hands-on experiences that resonate with their interests and aspirations”.
“With Jurassic World: The Exhibition, we affirm once again our commitment to offer all our visitors a stirring, unforgettable, interactive experience,” he said, adding that the group will begin to construct a second immersive experience set immediately.
Vice-president of live entertainment at Universal Brand Development Carol Nygren said: “With the continued global strength of the Jurassic World brand, we’re devoted to bringing the exhibition to fans worldwide and seeing their excitement to be immersed in the world of Jurassic dinosaurs.”
Tom Zaller, manager of JP Exhibitions and president of Imagine Exhibitions, added: “This new relationship with Cityneon offers a great promise for all parties involved; Cityneon understands the industry and has the ability to expand on the incredible success of the exhibition.”
Jurassic World: The Exhibition was developed in close collaboration with renowned palaeontologist Jack Horner, who served as the adviser on Jurassic World, the movie.
The exhibition is imbued with interactive educational elements, inspired by the real-world science of dinosaur DNA that allowed Jurassic World to come to life. Visitors will explore a towering brachiosaurus, come face-to-face with a velociraptor, and get a rare up-close look at the most vicious dinosaur of them all, the tyrannosaurus rex.
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