Rumormill: The Thing House To Be At Halloween Horror Nights XX
As we anxiously await this year’s Halloween Horror Nights XX (HHN XX), the Destination: Theme Park mongrels are staying alert to any and all clues and hints that may give us a better idea of what to expect. So we’re delighted to say that we have figured out what one of the houses might be at the upcoming scarefest. Specifically, we believe that The Thing house will most likely be one of the eight (or more?) scare houses this year. With The Thing (movie) being released in early 2011, we have no doubt that this house, first seen at HHN XVII: Carnival of Carnage in 2007, will reappear this year. It will most likely be called The Thing: Resurrected – or something along those lines (as seen with previous repeat houses such as Scream House: Resurrected seen at HHN Sweet 16).
Promotional Vehicles
But Before we get into the nitty gritty, let’s take a step back and evaluate the situation. Since this may not be readily apparent, we’re going to say it anyway: the sole purpose of theme parks is to promote a certain product, be it a movie from a company (Universal’s Revenge of The Mummy ride at Universal Studios, Orlando), a drink made by Annheiser-Busch (Busch Gardens), or a singer such as Dolly Parton (Dollywood). When all is said and done, theme parks are one big promotional venue for a certain company and its owners/affiliates.
For Example
Wolfman, an HHN house that was presented at last year’s event is no exception: the purpose of this house was to promote the soon-to-be-released movie (it was due in February of 2010). And we can’t think of a better way to promote an upcoming blockbuster than to submerge guests in the movie setting itself by means of a haunted house.
This isn’t the only time we’ve seen HHN houses themed after upcoming (or recently released) movies. Here are some more examples: The Mummy house at the 1999 HHN IX: Last Gasp (movie released in 1999), The Mummy Returns: The Curse Continues house at the 2001 HHN XI: I.C.U. (movie released in 2001), Wolfman house in 2009 at HHN XIX: Ripped From the Silver Screen (movie released in 2010). And this year’s HHN won’t be any different.
The Thing: Remade
Universal's Website
28 years after The Thing was remade, Universal is remaking the horror sci-fi yet again. The film is set to be released April 29th, 2011. In case you’re wondering, as to the relationships between all these franchises – here’s the scoop: Wolfman was created by Universal Pictures – a subsidiary of NBC Universal, which in turn partnered with Universal Studios to bring Wolfman to last year’s HHN. As such, we’re certain that Universal Pictures wouldn’t miss an opportunity to promote its next new movie – The Thing. If you’d like to corroborate this, take a look at the following screen shot from Universal’s website of future movie releases.
But we’ve seen The Thing house in the past. It was called The Thing: Assimilation and was presented to HHN-goers in 2007. What’s more, it’s important to remember that HHN 2010 will be the 20th anniversary of the event (which I’ve already mentioned several times). So it should come as no surprise that we’re going to see concepts and ideas from past HHN events at this year’s scarefest. Afterall, The Thing was brought up in previous event clippings seen on the new teaser website for HHN XX.
Halloween Horror Nights might be the ultimate place to get your fright on, but it’s also the number one place to promote movies for production houses. As such, I suspect these two houses to be a big possibility.
5 Comments
I understand where you are going on this but I’m not sure they’d do this house again so soon. The Thing made an appearance last year in the parade building. Granted it was the old version and a very small scene with hardly any scareactors. I don’t see them pushing the movie yet again this year. At this point it wouldn’t surprise me if we had 8 all new houses using things from the past in every house.
It seems like something they shouldn’t do but, looking at Universal’s track record with repeat houses (not necessarily the same house just the same concept) I think there is a big possibility for this house to pop up again for example: at HHN Sweet 16 in 2006 (we could say this is like this years anniversary) brought us the Scream House again which was first seen in 2002 at HHNXII: Islands of Fear and seen again the next year as the Scream House Revisited at HHN13: The Director will see you now. At HHN Sweet 16 the scream house came back again with the name Scream House: Resurrection. There was only a 3 year gap before bring back scream and the time gap will be the same with The Thing. Universal doesn’t seem to have a problem bringing back houses, this is why I wouldn’t be surprised to see The Thing house as one of the houses at this year’s twentieth anniversary especially with the fact that they’ve shown it in their reel on the website (on the iconic era page).
Just because Universal is currently working on a prequel to The Thing, what makes you so sure that it’ll be a featured house at HHN:XX? That’s a big claim to make, and you don’t give any convincing evidence to support that claim. Now I understand that theme parks like to promote products whenever they can, but if you follow that logic then shouldn’t every year be chock full of movie themed mazes? I hope you see that this is seriously a big leap to make, especially with very reliable sources giving conflicting reports to yours that there will be NO movie themes houses for the 20th anniversary.
If you’re going to title a post “Breaking”, you really might want to at least have some facts like a press release, building permits, or construction photos to support your claim other than spotty assumptions. It only does the community harm otherwise.
Doug, that’s a good point. But I think you’re overreacting (and perhaps overreaching) when you say that it “only does the community harm otherwise.” I think that a big step backward, along with a nice deep breath of fresh air are in order here. Let’s realize what – exactly – we’re discussing here.
We’re discussing HHN – a rather trivial (on a grand scheme of world events) halloween-themed event, the primary purpose of which is to have FUN. So let’s not go crazy and say that the community of a fun theme park event (HHN) is being harmed by an article (one that’s unique in its approach and information, mind you). Real harm would be the prohibition of discussion of any and all HHN related topics, wouldn’t you say?
Ok, enough of that – let’s get back to the fun stuff: I don’t think that an imminent movie release must always equate to a park promoting said movie. In other words, it’s not a surefire “if-then” situation. However, the evidence here is such that a remake of The Thing is on its way by a related organization to Universal Studios. To me, this is a very interesting relationship.
On a content note, you’re right – perhaps the title of the article should not have read “breaking” – as that implies all-new news. However, whether the content of this “all-new” news piece is factual or based on research is a different topic entirely. That is, the information contained in the above article is – indeed – all new, so could it not be considered breaking? Maybe a breaking rumor, but it’s still breaking, is it not?
But I digress – we changed the original title to read “rumormill” rather than “breaking” to clear up any kind of possible confusion.
- Alex
Alex, since you read my straight forward comment as overreacting, and the fact that you asked if “Real harm would be the prohibition of discussion of any and all HHN related topics”…I think you kind of missed my point here.
My issue was with the title of the post portraying a rumor to be truth. And then not providing any evidence other than assumptions. I’d be surprised if it’s hard to understand how this came across as questionable journalism on this blogs part. And since your site is actively engaged in the HHN community, it does in fact do the community. Because it hurts your credibility. And credibility means quite a lot during this speculation phase.
However, since the title of this post has indeed been changed to reflect the content and level of research done for it, then no harm done. Thank you for correcting this error.