MUMBAI: Ruwaad Holdings has signed an agreement to develop a Paramount Pictures-branded theme park in the United Arab Emirates.
The planned development would be part of a $2.5 billion destination envisioned to incorporate boutique hotels and resorts, large themed retail areas and adjoining lifestyle properties. Paramount Licensing has announced a long-term licensing agreement with Ruwaad, a real estate, hospitality and tourism investment and development company.
Under the licensing arrangement, International Destination Brands Limited, an affiliate of Ruwaad Holdings will be responsible for funding development and securing a feasible site for the large-scale destination. Paramount Licensing will not invest funds, but instead provide access to Paramount Pictures’ intellectual property library — one of the largest of any Hollywood studio — and its intellectual capital through the oversight of planning and design aspects. Paramount Pictures’ legendary catalogue includes Academy Award(R)-winning films such as Titanic, Braveheart and Forrest Gump, as well as classic and current hits including The Godfather, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Top Gun, Mission: Impossible, Charlotte’s Web, Nacho Libre, and Dreamgirls (a co-production with DreamWorks Pictures).
The Paramount Pictures-branded theme park would be the entertainment hub of the family destination, featuring rides, shows, and attractions based on its rich Hollywood heritage and library of motion picture titles. The theme park would benefit from Paramount Pictures’ stable of new titles, which would provide the basis for the development of new rides and attractions. It would also be the first-in-the-world to have a unique blend of Hollywood, Bollywood and Arabian motion picture entertainment content to address the family entertainment needs of existing and future global tourism trends.
Ruwaad and Paramount Licensing are also exploring other development opportunities in select countries within the Middle East and elsewhere.
Ruwaad has announced that Darrell Metzger, CEO of Ruwaad Destinations, will manage the development aspects of the project.
