...and so it begins;

[joz]

Since the Superman thread is getting quite bogged down, I thought I'd start one here. Someone asked me when we can expect construction to start. Well....

The Movie Magic Special Effects Show will be closing on 30 January 2005 to make way for an exciting new attraction.

[scott]

So Movieworld doesn't have a studio tour and now it's getting rid of this as well?I see no reason why they should get rid of the show,which was fairly good when I went,when there is plenty of space between Wild West and Lethal Weapon,and plenty of other spots around the park too.

[coaster_crazee]

who cares, a new coaster will be alot better than a special FX show...

[Rocky]

What kind of special effects show was this?

[scott]

It just showed some of the most basic "Movie Magic" effects that are used in the big screen.Go to the Movieworld website for more info.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The movie magic special effects show is very similar to other effects shows in other movie-theme-parks. In WBMW, guests would queue up outside the sound stage, and volunteers picked from the audience to play roles in the following scenes. In Scene 1, We are given demonstrations of Map-Painting and Blue Screen techniques. Sly Stallone introduces the segment that follows with one volunteer being superman, and flying over the goldcoast, while another guest walks along a "building ledge" a foot or so off the ground, while cameras "paint" the image onto a skyscraper that is many stories tall. In Scene 2, (not sure if im missing one) we enter the foley effects stage. Mel Gibson introduces us to one of his movies - Lethal Weapon 2 (very dated. they needed a new one anyone). We are shown a scene from Lethal Weapon where Danny Glover, Mel Gibson and Joe Pesci first meet in the hotel room, starting from Mel and Danny knocking on the door, all the way through to three of them falling out the window and into the pool. There are three volunteers in this segment, who are each given a number of sound effects to produce to make this scene work, from footsteps, to gunshots, glass breaking, water splashing... all sorts of things. This part of the sound stage is hilarious, as usually the volunteers miss their queues, or run late, and after we have been through a recording session, we get to watch the final playback, with nothing but sound effects. hearing every effect muddled up is quite funny. In Scene 3, we are taken onto a set of Memphis Belle. there are many different versions of the bomber in this set, from miniature, to toy and model size, all the way up to a 100% correct sizing of the plane. Our last volunteer will be the pilot of the memphis belle, with a MW cast member as their copilot. Our guide runs through various different models on display, demonstrating each in turn, before explaining how the effects we have seen previously combine with different camera techniques to provide the final picture. the tour ends with our last volunteer making the final flight of Memphis Belle, while all the other models, as well as painted backdrops, and other effects combine to create the realism of actual flight. I hope this answers your question... and now - back onto Superman. It is strange that MW would pick that site for a new thrill ride, as it would appear to be boxed in by sound stages, lethal weapon and batman. where can it go but up? it can't go too near the sound stages for fear of ruining the sound capture they would do there... Unless of course this is going to be another dark ride, which would make theming very easy, but the coaster a little less spectacular. Perhaps movie world is putting superman elsewhere, but movie magic is getting a complete overhaul into something new, or else a different attraction will go in here, ALONG WITH superman going elsewhere...? just thoughts... who knows... lets see where this thread goes.... (ha, that rhymed...)

[scott]

If Movieworld does well with this new attraction then they will be my prefered park,at the moment DW is.If they get two new attractions then I'll be very happy indeed.

[Ian]

universal studios hollywood closed there studio effects tour (im not talking about the tram one) a few years back and no one complained. And the have heaps of space you will see what i mean as footer start going in.

[MARK28]

hey I saw that show when I was in Kindy! That was good! Oh well. You win some you loose some.

[joz]

The Special Effects show isn't as popular as it used to be. The show is now 14 years old, looks dated and is a rather expensive attraction to operate. Most people seem to think its past its prime and requires either a major update, or replacing. Well, updating an attraction like this might increase its in park popularity, but it certaintly would struggle to attract new guests. Really, replacing it makes total sense on many levels. Not only will the replacement attraction be a huge draw card for the park, but building it in this spot also lowers the costs involved. Think about it, there is already the infustrcture (Power and whatnot) in place, and thats a nice saving off the total cost of the ride. Also, don't be surprised if the buildings get re-used, again a nice way to save building costs. It also means that the most popular element from the show (Superman) gets a proper home in the park instead of just some small component of a show. There is no way that this is a bad thing.

[matty_o_911]

I think the location for this ride seems to make sense to me, because if they are building the really large backlot metropolis set (which would be built near the sound stages I would assume), then I hope that the set can be used later on after filming is completed to create a new themed area in the park. It would be perfect to walk through the superman set in order to get to the ride entrance. Like what I posted in another thread: "I can tell you that they are building a portion of Metropolis, like a major backlot that's amazing. It's like three intersecting city blocks and everything is four stories tall. And it's a permanent backlot, it will be like a permanent New York City slash Metropolis." (By the way this isn't a quote of my own, it was said by someone in the production team for the movie and I found it on a film site.) So I am sure Movieworld would combine the attraction and the backlot, if my assumption that this is being built at Movieworld is to be correct.

[friendsarama]

Um...Obviously people did get annoyed over Universal closing down it's movie magic effects show. Cos I've been to Universal Studios Hollywood twice in the past 15 months and it's been running... In fact....It's better! Cos they now change the movies used in the show annually! I personally can't stand the Movie World one. Special effects in cinema have changed so drastically in the past 10 years that I can't understand, at all, how they can justify having the same special effects displays since the park first opened! I'd like to see them re-do it however. I think Movie World needs something like this...and I think it would be good...but they definately need to re-do it. Mickey C

[Richard]

matty, the studios being used for the filming of the movie are Fox Studios in Sydney. As far as I know they are doing location shooting and nothing more at the Gold Coast, so the Metropolis backlot will be built in Sydney. Even if it was up here, your quote suggests that it wouldn't become a part of the theme park as it is a permanent backlot, which they hope will be used in many future productions. One of my concerns with Movie World has always been that it seems to be a matter of removing old attractions to make way for new ones. While this looks good on paper, it really doesn't do much to develop the park in a more long term sense. Warner Bros. Movie World still struggles to make itself a complete full-day attraction, and this doesn't really help with that. I don't doubt that the Special Effects show was losing popularity, but this would be because it hasn't been updated at all in nearly 15 years, and most of what the show says or does is either ridiculously out-of-date, or just wrong these days. It's no surprise that Universal Studios' show which is consistently popular also constantly reinvents itself as friendsrama said. At the end of the day, I think the only real justification for the removal of the Special Effects show is that it makes the cost of this new Superman ride just that little bit cheaper. It would be nice to see an expansion of the park, and I know that the crowds the park gets these days would probably agree with me.

[matty_o_911]

matty, the studios being used for the filming of the movie are Fox Studios in Sydney. As far as I know they are doing location shooting and nothing more at the Gold Coast, so the Metropolis backlot will be built in Sydney. Even if it was up here, your quote suggests that it wouldn't become a part of the theme park as it is a permanent backlot, which they hope will be used in many future productions.

I know that principle photography is being done at Fox Studios, but I am sure I remember reading that one of the sets was too large for fox studios and was going to Movie World. I am sure I read this on comingsoon.net, because they also reported that the ride was going to be constructed in the same report. As for where they would leave the permanant background, I was under the impression that Warner Brothers was making Superman, and therefore I am sure they would much rather leave a backlot set in an amusement park run by one of their subsidiary companies, rather than in a studio belonging to rival Twentieth Century Fox. Just my assumption, thats all. I am probably wrong, it is just how I have interpreted what I have read in various places.

[Belgian]

The ride sounds the same as it was here in Germany, except for the last scene, which was a submarine from Das Boot. The volunteers were mechanics and captain in the submarine for one scene, then two others stood on the "look out" on top of the submarine, during a big storm, alot of water and wind.

[Belgian]

The movie magic special effects show is very similar to other effects shows in other movie-theme-parks.

The ride sounds the same as it was here in Germany, except for the last scene, which was a submarine from Das Boot. The volunteers were mechanics and captain in the submarine for one scene, then two others stood on the "look out" on top of the submarine, during a big storm, alot of water and wind.

[T-bone]

Typical on MW to close their only attraction which shows off even the tinyest bit of how a movie is made. Look at all these other movie themed parks, they still have all that movie stuff, and keep adding new attractions. Amazing stuff.

[Gazza]

Im fairly certain in years to come there will be a replacment for the attraction, it could showcase newer movie technologies like motion capture for example.

[scott]

Of course,If they don't bring a new behind the scenes show or any real movie related attraction then they will hardly be able to call themselves Movieworld.If this new ride is exciting,high capacity,and has good theming all roled into one then they will be my favourite park again,but for 12 million I'm not sure how much we can get.BTW,take a look at the list of attractions on the Movieworld website and you'll see that apparently SDSC is still a new ride,even though it's been open for three years.

[joz]

BTW,take a look at the list of attractions on the Movieworld website and you'll see that apparently SDSC is still a new ride,even though it's been open for three years.

Glad no one else has noticed that.. I think the way it works is something is new until another headline attraction is built. It should probably just say "Newest!" or something like that. Still, Scooby Doo isn't the big sign out the front of the park anymore. Movieworld is doing the advertising the whole park not just one attraction thing at the moment, so they do know that its not new, and not as marketable (Still fun though). Maybe they'll pull that off the website in September or something.

[Adam]

The Special Effects tour was old. How do you know they aren't planning an even bigger tour for another area of the park? I'm sure Movie World know a lot more about what the people who visit their park want to see than anyone here.

Typical on MW to close their only attraction which shows off even the tinyest bit of how a movie is made.

What about the Matrix attraction?

[scott]

The Official Matrix Exhibit is laughable,it shows nothing about movies behind the scenes and is only a temporary thing anyway.

[joz]

I'm not normally a big fan of Kevin Yee's from Mice Age, but I do feel he gets a whole heap of stuff right in his latest article, and its quite relevant to what your talking about.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

he makes some very good points about the studio tours and losing the magic. he does seem to love himself a bit though i see. It is a good point. a Movie theme park doesnt need to have backlot effects like the movie magic show.

Of course,If they don't bring a new behind the scenes show or any real movie related attraction then they will hardly be able to call themselves Movieworld.

Scott. stop sitting on your mouth, and talk through it, instead of the other way around. Movie World has looney tunes rides up the yin yang, wild west which has substantial "movie set" theming, as does the rest of the wild west area. Rides based on movies which go a long way towards reliving it (SDSC emulates the movie's coaster quite a bit)... With hope, Movie World will use the recently vacated sound stage to produce a heck of a lot of theming towards this new ride. It would be very nice to see a new movie effects show, which showcases the latest technology, like the "matrix" anti gravity moves, wire fights etc. On a trip to Universal Hollywood, I recall seeing their effects show, which at the time simluated a scene from the original Psycho, and showed a person falling from the Statue of Liberty. their foley studio was done to a scene from Harry and the Hendersons, but was still essentially the same as WBMW. An updated effects show would be good, the current one is outdated, but losing it entirely is not such a great loss, if Movie World make better use of the space towards creating the "Immersion in the Illusion". I guess we just have to wait and see what they come up with....

[Adam]

The Official Matrix Exhibit is laughable,it shows nothing about movies behind the scenes and is only a temporary thing anyway.

The Matrix Exhibit is an insight to the production of the three Matrix Films, your claim "shows nothing about movies behind the scenes" is invalid.

If they don't bring a new behind the scenes show or any real movie related attraction then they will hardly be able to call themselves Movieworld.

No movie related attractions? I guess Scooby Doo, Lethal Weapon, Wild West Falls, and Police Academy are not movie related? I guess none of these attractions were based on Warner Village Feature Films. And I guess the new Superman ride wont be movie related.

BTW,take a look at the list of attractions on the Movieworld website and you'll see that apparently SDSC is still a new ride,even though it's been open for three years.

Most people would only visit the park every two or three years if that. So for a lot of people this ride is still a 'new' ride.