Backlot

[taronga]

If Fox Studios wanted a theme park in Sydney, why didn't they step upto the plate when Wonderland where looking for new contracts??? Or at the very least Fox could have just bought-out the Wonderland Site and redevelope the place as new (like they tried @ Moore Park), the only reason I can blame the Backlots failure on was lack of space & too close to residents. :confused:

[jcgoldcoast]

And the fact that they had no decent major attractions....the biggest attraction that they had there was titanic, and to be honest, the idea was kool, but because of the lack of space, the actual attraction was abismal(spelling??). If they did buy out Wonderland, I think they could have rethemed it quite well, they did an amazing job with the backlot in the themeing department, almost made me feel like I was back in Hollywood!

[taronga]

The reason for crap attractions was council restrictions due to residential area - if not for that they could have had alot of cool rides etc..

[nev]

The Backlot was actually created in conjunction with the Bent Street Shopping precinct under instructions from the NSW government that a certain percentage of the old RAS Easter Show site would have to remain open for public use for a (if I remember correctly) minimum period of 2 years. Suprise suprise, after just under two years the Backlot is closed, and then last year the Bent Street precinct was sold to a shopping centre corporation, so that's why (as you may have noticed) the shopping area is now called "Entertainment Quarter" as opposed to "Fox Studios." I don't think Fox were looking for a theme park, they were merely satisfying the government's development demands for the minimum amount of time. I am lead to believe that the reason why the entry end of the Backlot (near the old Simpsons stage and Babe set) is still open but without any businesses is to satisfy the requirements for the public space area.

[LunaParkFanatic]

I've recently heard from a friend who lives around 15mins away from the old Backlot area. That fox still owns the area and is looking for a more sutible area to move there park, As they have recently been given help by some park over in the USA, who is going to help out with the re-themeing and ride selection! Hopefully this is true??? If so i hope they stay in Sydney, they could really help out Luna Park Sydney.

[Jaggie]

Some photos of the place if anyone is intrested can be found here http://www.ozthrills.com/bb/media/media/gallery1.html these were taken about six months ago, so this is pretty much what It looks like now...

[nev]

Fox still does own the Backlot area, it is just now closed to the public. The main street is promoted as being a outdoor film location. The Simpsons stage is now the Trackdown recording studios, the Titanic experience is now the 2nd largest sound stage in Australia, and the Lights Camera Chaos Theatre still exists as a 'venue' with audience seating and the like, but without any of the old LCC technical equipment or sets. Basically, Fox has just expanded the professional studios area to include the old Backlot. Pretty much every part of every ride (from individual light fittings right through to the Titanic ride's boats and motion control base) were sold at Auction at the start of 2003 following the closure of the park. There was even a considerable amount of movie props and memorabillia sold at the auction. It's highly unlikely that any of the original rides would be recreated because they simply don't exist any more.

[Gazza]

Wasn't there also a James Bond ride?

[Jaggie]

That was owned by a private company just outside the gates to the backlot. It was a moving seats ride.

[T-bone]

So like a simulator. Just like the simulater on the "Mr Bean" film.

[Jaggie]

Yep exactly.

[taronga]

It's highly unlikely that any of the original rides would be recreated because they simply don't exist any more.

Who cares? I wouldn't really call Titanic a ride - even though it was alright as the main attraction, but because this was the only so called "ride" it wouldn't be to difficult to make a bunch of high quality attractions with Fox theming. We already know of the Ice Age ride @ Moviepark Germany. I also remember when the news was first announced about Fox that they originally planned to build onsite of old Lion Safari / Animal World (whatever it was called) supposed to be like Universal Hollywood. This was years ago like late 80's - very early 90's.