2010-09-10
There have been a lot of rumours floating around during the last few days which indicated that the Paramount Project was starting to bubble again and news could be on the way soon.
It's appeared in the form of a press release through Madrid from the Paramount Licensing Divison (PLI) which announced to a Madrilenean Press Agency that it had reached an agreement to construct a theme park in the Region of Murcia.
The Executive Director of Marketing, Darren Kyman, said that an accord had been reached to construct a major entertainments centre associated with Paramount productions in the region, even if the Hollywood parent company had no part in the investment.
PLI will be participating in the planning phase for the park, which will have the brand name of Paramount, and will be licensed to feature some elements of the film-making giant, built around a conceptual design which would be provided by PLI.
"We believe that Murcia is a great opportunity to bring Europe a Paramount Film Park and look forward to working with the regional government of Murcia and Santa Monica Financial Services SA (the company of Jesus Samper) to develop this exciting project," said Michael Corcoran, president of Paramount Licensing, in a statement.
Michael Bartok, who is the Executive Vicepresident of PLI, highlighted the "tourism infrastructure " and "strong support" of the murcian government in working to bring about an agreement.
According to Bartok, the Region of Murcia offers" Ideal conditions to give first class entertainment to Spanish nationals and increased numbers of international visitors."
The statement was tantalisingly brief, saying only that there would be more announcements made during the coming months as the project developed, and this stance was also adopted by Darren Kyman who was willing to confirm the announcement and licensing agreement, but would give no further details.
What is so interesting is that no official comment on this subject has come from the Region of Murcia, which is quite surprising as given the pressure the departments of tourism and culture have been under during the last few weeks to do more to promote tourism, it would have been expected that this project would have been presented in a blaze of glory for Murcia.
What this perhaps indicates is that somebody has jumped the gun with this announcement, a fairly common tactic used to incentivise parties to reach a common accord or for investors in a project to judge the reaction of the markets to a proposal.
This morning a release from the region would have been expected, but the press department of the regional authority has remained silent, so maybe there are still some details to be finalised.
The press and opposition will undoubtedly insist on full details of the financing of this project and how much the Region of Murcia will be investing to make it all happen, so the region will wish to make sure that they have all the answers prepared for that one before the questioning begins.
No indication was given as to the wherabouts of the proposed leisure park, although the rumours this week have been focused around the Alhama area and the land ceded to the banks by the Polaris World construction company.
Should the project proceed, it would be a logical use of the space, with a great deal of good infrastructure already provided in the area, and an ideal location, the land sitting within what the local estate agents refer to as "the triangle" a practical and useful network of connections, which links railway, road and air transport.
What is important to understand is that this park is not being built by Paramount Studios, so it will not be a Paramount Project, but a Paramount themed project.
The company mentioned in the press Release, Santa Monica Financial Services SA is a division of Santa Monica Sports, owned by Jesus Samper, which is dedicated to the marketing of marketing rights, image, advertising and licensing in the field of professional sports.
No mention was made of Ruwaad holdings, the company mentioned in the original statements when the first indications of this project emerged in February.
Originally the story broke following a visit by the Concejal of Culture and President of the Region to Dubai, after an initial contact made at the Fitur International tourism Fair in Madrid.
The American Giant, Paramount Films, denied having any interest in the project or any intention of building a theme park in the Region of Murcia back in March.
This provoked a storm in the regional parliament, the President of the region being accused by the opposition of having lied about the letter expressing interest in a project within the Region of Murcia. Furious, he went to the lengths of taking the opposition spokesman into his private office and showing him the letter itself, which lead to an embarrassed spokesman having to admit that the President had in fact not lied.
The Concejal for Culture, Pedro Cruz, insisted that the project was still valid, and when we asked him personally about it at an Art exhibition inauguration, he responded to my question of whether the project was dead by saying," not dead dead. " And when I said, " how alive is not dead?" made a space about 2cm high between his fingers saying, " About this much" and absolutely refused to say a word more.
Since then there has been absolute silence about the project, this being the first announcement made.
Undoubtedly this will be excellent news for the region. If this park is constructed it will generate jobs, not just in the construction of the park, but also in manning and operations, supplies and ancillary services.
Property owners and sellers will also be delighted, as a project of this magnitude will attract investor interest and do a great deal to stimulate the housing sector, as well as the rentals market , to say nothing of the benefits to local businesses, all of us included.
More details will undoubtedly be released as the project progresses, and we await with interest the official release from the Region of Murcia.
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
| Area | Town | Subject |
| Murcia Region | Alhama de Murcia | Paramount Park and.. |
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