, has been awarded the turnkey design and production contract for a 50,000 square foot traveling “educational attraction” for Nakashima International of Irvine, CA., the licensee of the Jurassic Park intellectual property from Universal Studios Inc. Radically blending state-of-the-art interactive educational exhibits with theme park technology and showmanship, the project is scheduled to open in July, 2003 in Tokyo, Japan before then traveling to other cities throughout Japan in 2003.
“We are extremely pleased to be creating and producing such a high-profile project with such quality educational values,” says Craig Hanna, co-founder of Thinkwell and creative principal for the company. “Both Universal Studios and Nakashima International sought us out to do this project and we’re very excited to be able to bring our unique creative sensibilities and storytelling to an internationally recognized intellectual property such as Jurassic Park.”
Part of Universal Studios’ and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment’s “Jurassic Park Institute” initiative, a not-for-profit educational foundation dedicated to dinosaur education, the traveling educational attraction will feature five key components: educational exhibits, a dinosaur encounter, a behind-the-scenes “making of” exhibit, a food venue and a Jurassic Park retail store.
“Universal Studios is pleased that Thinkwell is designing and producing this experience,” says Erik Thompson, director of Consumer Brands for Universal Studios. “Their experience with Universal gives us the confidence that they can deliver a quality educational experience based on the Jurassic Park franchise.”
“As we began the project we were looking for the best design and production company in the industry,” says Sam Nakashima, chairman of Nakashima International. “Thinkwell’s experience in creating experiences and the partner’s backgrounds in entertainment gave us a high level of confidence in the final product they are producing for us.”
The Jurassic Park educational attraction will be a high capacity experience utilizing state-of-the-art technology, theatrical showmanship and the latest educational presentation mediums available anywhere. The key component of the experience will be a dinosaur encounter where guests to the educational attraction will be able to see “living, breathing” dinosaurs up close. These sophisticated robotic dinosaurs are similar to those created for the Jurassic Park motion pictures. Their realistic movement and actions will give guests the impression they are walking amongst Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs. The dinosaur experience culminates in a close encounter with ravenous Raptors and a Tyrannosaurus Rex while guests are trapped within a Pteranadon aviary.
“Guests are going to experience the world of Jurassic Park in new ways,” Ken Nakashima, president of Nakashima International says of the project. “We are taking what has happened so far in the Jurassic Park movies and going one step beyond – taking the story in another possible direction.”
“We feel we’re creating something that’s combines education with the showmanship of a theme park attraction,” says Joe Zenas, producer for the experience and director of Thinkwell’s Events & Exhibits group. “We’re bringing interactive education to another level – one that evokes all the senses and brings emotion to learning.”
Francois Bergeron, also a partner and principal of Thinkwell and audio designer for the project adds, “Because this educational attraction will electrify all of the senses, guests will want to experience it again and again. That is what we do best.”
Thinkwell Design & Production Incorporated specializes in turnkey design and production services for theme park attractions, live shows, branding/corporate experiences and environments, museum and educational environments and restaurant and retail environments. Their clients include Universal Studios, DreamWorks SKG, Nike and others. Thinkwell has a European production and sales office located in Barcelona, Spain.
For more information on Thinkwell visit their website at: www.thinkwelldesign.com
Thinkwell Design & Production Incorporated
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