2010-11-11
It's been an interesting 24 hours in the story of the Paramount Theme park in Murcia, with the arrival of an executive party from Paramount Licensing in America to meet with the murcian regional executives keen to drive the project forward in Murcia.
One of the biggest concerns for many has been the lack of clear confirmation about what the plans are for this project, mainly because at this stage the project is still in its earliest embryonic stage and there is still a vast amount of work to be done before even the skeleton of a project will be unveiled for public viewing.
There's been a great deal of secrecy about this project, due to the delicate negotiations taking place about the location of the park, mainly to prevent speculators from souring the deal before it was signed, although Alhama de Murcia, and the lands owned by the IRM group which were formerly the property of Polaris World, has been a clear favourite from the start.
As of last night, it was still unclear whether the executives even planned to visit Alhama, with various reports circulating that they would be visiting several sites, just Alhama, the new Corvera airport, doing a full tour of Murcia and all the proposed sites, and no-one seemed to even know how many people were visiting, up until the moment when the group arrived at their hotel in Torre Pacheco, at which point a release was even put out about the loafers and jeans worn by Paramount Licensing Vicepresident, Michael Bartok and his refusal to speak to a reporter who was waiting at the hotel just in case.
This morning he met with president Valcarcel, who revealed to reporters that the visit was a "courtesy" visit.
He then went on to a meeting with regional representatives, in the form of Pedro Cruz, Culture and tourism, Salvador Marín, Business and Universities and Jesus Samper, head of Santa Monica Financial Services who have an 80% stake in the company which has been set up to initiate the project.
Following this meeting, Bartok told the press that the park in Murcia would be a new generation of parks, which could not be compared to any others currently existing and would allow an immersive experience into the films of Paramount, so that the visitor could experience how films are made.
He confirmed that the park would include restaurants, hotels and commercial zones, adapted to European tastes.
He said that it will take 6 months before the plans are presented showing the design and concepts behind the park which will be constructed, the "Plan Maestro de Diseño' and that the park would not be an attractions themepark as many had believed, but a true paramount studios themepark.
The park will be one of the most important investments in Spain and aims to attract not only Spanish investors, but multinational investors.
As of this moment the only investor appears to be Jesus Samper, who as we've said before appears to be almost an unwilling party to this whole project who said that his company, Santa Monica, would not be "no estar en primera línea" in the front line of the project, but that he believed in its' success.
Which is a far cry from the impression we were first presented that he was driving the project forward.
Paramount licensing today also confirmed that Paramount itself would not be investing in the project , other than as a "planner."
Alhama de Murcia is the location which at this stage has been selected, but as with all the elements of the project, there are still many details to confirm and as they say, "there's many a slip twixt cup and lip, " so until firm contracts are signed with the banks, plans drawn up, signed off and licences issued,the official line is still "the projected location for the Paramount theme park at 11th November is Alhama de Murcia."
Although europa Press have issued a statement in which the words, "La multinacional cinematográfica Paramount Pictures ha elegido finalmente, de entre varios candidatos, el municipio de Alhama de Murcia "
The multinational Paramount pictures have finally chosen, from amongst various candidates, the municipality of Alhama."
We'll bring you a press round-up tomorrow.
The full story of the project including present day status can be found by using the link to the history of the Paramount Theme Park Murcia, Click Paramount Theme Park Murcia
| Area | Town | Subject |
| Murcia Region | Alhama de Murcia | Paramount Park and.. |
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