Thinkwell Group

Last updated

Thinkwell Group
Company typePrivate company
Industry Experience design
Founded2001
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
,
U.S.
Key people
  • Joe Zenas, Partner (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Craig Hanna (Co-Founder and Partner, Chief Creative Officer)
  • François Bergeron (Co-Founder and Partner, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer)
Number of employees
Approx. 201 (2019)
Website thinkwellgroup.com

Thinkwell Group is an experience design and production agency that was founded in 2001 with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. [1] In 2022, TAIT acquired Thinkwell Group. [2]

Contents

Since 2006, the firm has gone from approximately 35 employees to approximately 180. [3] [4]

Work

Some of the firm's projects include Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, [5] Leavesden; Ski Dubai, an indoor ski resort in the Mall of the Emirates; NatureQuest, at Atlanta's Fernbank Museum of Natural History; the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Grand Opening Event for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Parks and Resorts' Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida; [6] and Jurassic Park Institute Tour, a 50,000-square-foot traveling educational attraction based on the movie Jurassic Park. [7]

In China, the firm has produced inEontime World, a massive indoor theme park, and SongSong Town, an "activity park" inside LeSong Plaza, both in Harbin, [8] and Warner Bros. Fun Zone in Macau, opened in October 2015 a hotel and casino mega-resort, Studio Cit. The firm has designed Monkey Kingdom (Beijing), based on the 16th century Journey to the West Chinese folk tale, [9] [10] and Jurassic Dream, an indoor theme park in the Heilongjiang Province. [11] [12]

In 2015 the firm opened the first major expansion to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, which includes a recreation of Platform 9 3/4 and the original Hogwarts Express train. Also for Warner Bros., the firm designed and produced the interactive attraction, Stage 48: Script to Screen at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. The firm also opened two museum projects, Aquanaut Adventure: A Discovery Zone at the Georgia Aquarium and the Worlds of Puppetry Museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts, the Fast & Furious: Supercharged attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, and The Hunger Games: The Exhibition, a traveling exhibition created in partnership with Lionsgate based on The Hunger Games movie and book franchise. [13]

The firm was contracted by Expo 2020 Dubai as content master planners and designers. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden</span> Film studio complex in Hertfordshire, England

Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is an 80 ha (200-acre) studio complex in Leavesden in Watford, Hertfordshire, in the East of England. Formerly known as Leavesden Film Studios and still colloquially known as Leavesden Studios or simply Leavesden, it is a film and media complex owned by Warner Bros. The studios were all converted from an aircraft factory and airfield called Leavesden Aerodrome, a centre of British aircraft production during World War II. The nearest railway station is King's Langley which is a walking distance of 1.3 miles (2.1 km).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Destinations & Experiences</span> Theme park division of NBCUniversal

Universal Destinations & Experiences, is the theme park unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. They are also referred to as Universal Studios Theme Parks, Universal Theme Parks or solely Universal Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Islands of Adventure</span> Theme park in the United States

Universal Islands of Adventure, originally called Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and later Universal's Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. It opened on May 28, 1999, along with CityWalk, as part of an expansion that converted Universal Studios Florida into the Universal Orlando Resort. The resort's slogan Vacation Like You Mean It was introduced in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Studios Hollywood</span> Film studio and theme park in the United States

Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketing headline is "The Entertainment Capital of LA". It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios sets and is the first of many full-fledged Universal Studios Theme Parks located across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Themed Entertainment Association</span> Theme park industry association

The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is an international non-profit association that represents creators, developers, designers and producers of themed entertainment. It is also noted for its THEA Awards, which were founded in 1995 and are distributed annually in a range of themed entertainment categories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey</span> Attraction at Universal theme parks

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a motion-based dark ride located in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-themed areas of Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida; Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California; Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan; and Universal Studios Beijing in Beijing, China. The ride takes guests through scenes and environments in and around Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter series of books and films. Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative, described the ride as an in-depth look at the world of Harry Potter, which utilizes never-before-seen technology which transforms "the theme park experience as you know it". The ride first opened at Islands of Adventure with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on June 18, 2010; subsequent versions opened at Universal Studios Japan on July 15, 2014, at Universal Studios Hollywood on April 7, 2016, and at Universal Studios Beijing on September 20, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Orlando Resort)</span> Area in Universal Orlando theme parks

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a themed area spanning three theme parks—Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Florida and the upcoming Universal Epic Universe—at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. The area is themed to the Harry Potter media franchise, adapting elements from the film series and novels by J. K. Rowling. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was designed by Universal Creative from an exclusive license with Warner Bros. Entertainment.

This article details the appearance of Harry Potter theming in amusement parks. In the late 1990s, Universal Parks & Resorts began discussing the possibility of purchasing the license for Harry Potter to create and theme amusement park rides. As Time Warner owns the license, a small walkthrough attraction was constructed at Warner Bros. Movie World called the Harry Potter Movie Magic Experience in 2001. This attraction was removed two years later. In 2010, Universal Islands of Adventure park opened The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Similar attractions have also opened in Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan and are planned for Universal Studios Beijing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Studios Hollywood)</span> Area at Universal Studios Hollywood

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a themed area at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park near Los Angeles. The area is themed to the Harry Potter media franchise, adapting elements from the film series and novels by J.K. Rowling. The attraction—the second Harry Potter-themed area to exist at a Universal resort—was designed by Universal Creative from an exclusive license with Warner Bros. Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wizarding World of Harry Potter</span> Harry Potter-themed land at Universal theme parks

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a chain of themed areas at Universal Destinations & Experiences based on the Harry Potter media franchise, adapting elements from the Warner Bros.' film series and original novels by J. K. Rowling. The areas were designed by Universal Creative from an exclusive license with Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Studio Tour may refer to one of the following:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts</span> Ride at Universal Studios Florida

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts is an indoor steel roller coaster designed by Universal Creative and built by Intamin at Universal Studios Florida, a theme park located within the Universal Orlando Resort. Similar to dark rides, the roller coaster utilizes special effects in a controlled-lighting environment and also employs motion-based 3-D projection of both animation and live-action sequences to enhance the experience. The ride, which is themed to the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, became the flagship attraction for the expanded Wizarding World of Harry Potter when it opened on July 8, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thierry Coup</span> French creative director

Thierry Jean-Andre Coup is the Chief Experiential Futurist at JOCOUP Creative. Coup began his career working in the film industry, performing set design and visual effects. He moved into theme park design in the early 1990s when Walt Disney Parks and Resorts offered him a position with Walt Disney Imagineering. In 1995, he transferred over to Universal Creative and led projects such as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Transformers: The Ride, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley and Super Nintendo World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Studios Japan)</span> Themed area in Universal Studios Japan

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a themed area based on the Harry Potter series built at Universal Parks & Resorts' Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, Japan. Not to be confused with Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter at Leavesden Studios, it is a collaboration of Universal Parks & Resorts and Warner Bros. Entertainment. It opened to the public on July 15, 2014.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of <i>Harry Potter</i> Walk-through exhibition and studio tour in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, England

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is a walk-through exhibition and studio tour in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, England, owned by Warner Bros. and operated by their Studio Tours division. It is located within Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, in Watford, in southwest Hertfordshire, and houses a permanent exhibition of authentic costumes, props and sets utilised in the production of the Harry Potter films, as well as behind-the-scenes production of visual effects. The tour is contained in Soundstages J and K, which were specially built for the attraction, and is separate from the studio's actual production facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood</span> Studio tour of the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood is a guided walk-through tour of Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, located in Los Angeles, California. Over a two-to-three-hour period, visitors can glimpse behind the scenes of one of the oldest film studios in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Studio Tours</span> Public attractions

Warner Bros. Studio Tours are a pair of public attractions owned and run by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi</span> Indoor theme park

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi is the world's largest indoor theme park in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, owned and developed by Miral at a cost of $1 billion. The park features characters from Warner Bros.'s franchises, such as Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera, and others. The park is located on Yas Island near Ferrari World, Yas Waterworld and CLYMB Abu Dhabi, and is the third Warner Bros. theme park. The WB Hotel is the first Warner Bros. themed hotel and is located adjacent to the theme park. The park contains 29 rides, and several shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wizarding World</span> Shared fictional universe

The Wizarding World is a fantasy media franchise and shared fictional universe centred on the Harry Potter novel series by J. K. Rowling. A series of films have been in production since 2000, and in that time eleven films have been produced—eight are adaptations of the Harry Potter novels and three are part of the Fantastic Beasts series. The films are owned and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The series has collectively grossed over $9.6 billion at the global box office, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film franchise of all time.

Lionsgate Entertainment World, officially abbreviated to LEW, is a theme park found on Hengqin Island, Guangdong Province, China. The park opened on July 31, 2019 as the first Lionsgate Theme Park. Designed by the Thinkwell Group, the park is the first of its kind dubbed "the world's first vertical theme park."

References

  1. "How do you create the unforgettable? Being able to direct an army of experts sure helps". Entrepreneur. 1 October 2007.
  2. "TAIT to Acquire Thinkwell". businesswire.com. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  3. "Playing With New Themes". Los Angeles Times. 12 April 2006.
  4. "An Interview with the Industry's Shapeshifters". Entertainment Designer. 29 April 2013.
  5. MacDonald, Brady (21 March 2012). "'Harry Potter' movie studio tour opens outside London". Los Angeles Times.
  6. "Universal Orlando's celebrity opening ceremony for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter". Theme Park Insider. 16 June 2010.
  7. "Designing theme park rides: An $8M business". Fortune. 18 May 2007.
  8. admin. "SongSong Town – the FEC that made a shopping mall sing: Park World Online – Theme Park, Amusement Park and Attractions Industry News". parkworld-online.com. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  9. MacDonald, Brady (7 July 2011). "Monkey Kingdom theme park set to open in China in 2014". Los Angeles Times.
  10. Pierson, David (19 June 2011). "Theme park designers draw steady work in Asia". Los Angeles Times.
  11. MacDonald, Brady (2 June 2012). "Dinosaur-centric indoor theme park set to debut in China". Los Angeles Times.
  12. Ungerleider, Neal (12 July 2012). "Flames of Fury, Animatronic Raptors, and a Brachiosaurus Half-Pipe: Inside China's Massive Jurassic Dream Theme Park". Fast Company.
  13. Vlessing, Etan (30 May 2014). "Lionsgate Moving Ahead on 'Hunger Games' Theme Park Plans". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  14. "Dubai awards 72 contracts for Expo 2020". Gulf Business . Retrieved 27 April 2016.