Sony Pictures will open theme park in Thailand

Thailand gets more entertaining for visitors every year. And later this year, Sony Pictures Entertainment will open a 14-acre Hollywood theme and water park in the Kingdom featuring attractions based on films such as Ghostbusters and Men in Black.

The new theme park will open in October this year and is a joint venture with Thailand’s Amazon Falls, the developer of Cartoon Network Amazone. It will be Sony’s first branded theme park and will operate under the name Columbia Pictures Aquaverse Thailand. Sony owns Columbia Pictures, the famed Hollywood studio.

The new venture will put Thailand on the global theme park map, competing in the region for family entertainment with Japan and China, both of which have Disney theme parks.

“We are creating opportunities for all audiences around the world to immerse themselves deeper into our stories through water parks, touring exhibitions, and theme park attractions,” says Jeffrey Godsick of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Variety reported that Aquaverse would be located in the seaside town of Bangsaray, an upcoming tourist spot not far from Bangkok. It is also situated within the three-province Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), the showcase for advanced development and green living in the Kingdom.

“The project is going to play a key role in reshaping the growth dynamism in the EEC,” said Kanit Sangsubhan, the EEC secretary-general. “The theme park will be a key component in our EEC Smart City development plan.”

Among the attractions will be “Men in Black Thrill Rides,” which includes hair-raising water coaster rides, one of which has a 12-meter free-fall ride that sends you careening down a Men in Black Wormhole.

The park will also have sections and rides based on Jumanji, Bad Boys and Hotel Transylvania, among others.