Announced last year, Universal’s Epic Universe is rumored to launch immersive areas based on a variety of popular properties, from a new Harry Potter-related land devoted to Fantastic Beasts, to the American version of Super Nintendo World. Construction continued after the quarantine began and Universal’s other theme parks closed, but with Universal’s first quarter theme park revenue dropping by over 30% from 2019 to 2020, Comcast made the call to put the project on ice for the moment.
According to the Sentinel, this is a momentary setback. Tom Schroder, a Universal spokesman, told the paper that this decision is “about timing only. Our confidence in our business, our communities and our industry is as strong as ever.”
This isn’t a surprise, of course; with how the pandemic has progressed, and with the theme park business being inherently at odds with the kinds of measures needed to prevent spread, it was clear that it would be very difficult for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure to reopen soon. And with losses from those closures mounting every day, it was only inevitable for ongoing construction to be put on the backburner. It’s only surprising that Universal took this long—Disney halted its projects at Disney World over a month ago, the week after the parks closed. Hopefully this doesn’t impact Universal’s longterm plans for Epic Universe and the rest of its theme parks—what we’ve seen of Super Nintendo World looks fantastic, and it’d be a shame if this crisis hobbled its potential.
