Universal Studios' SVP Creative comments on possible Wizarding World park in UK
 

Universal Parks and Resort's SVP of Creative, Thierry Coup, chatted with SnitchSeeker during the opening week of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood earlier this month, and discussed the new technology and areas of the attraction compared to Orlando and Osaka, and more.

Coup gave his thoughts about why the UK - home of the Harry Potter series - has yet to see a fully immersed Wizarding World; as well as what attraction he'd personally like to see added to the parks at Universal Studios throughout the world. That can be watched and read below.

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SnitchSeeker: Where did the idea to make Forbidden Journey in 3D come from?
Thierry Coup: Well, we absolutely loved what we had done in Orlando with Forbidden Journey, and we wanted to bring the immersion and feeling inside this experience even deeper than we had done. So we experimented with some 3-D and we found that it was actually a really great thing to do.

It offers a different experience for Universal Studios Hollywood. It works really well because it allows you now to really feel like you’re right there. Your tale in following Harry Potter as he’s flying over the Quiddtich match – being able to see the snitch right in front of you. We wanted to do that originally but the 3-D allowed us to do that. So it’s all those additional things that create more depth and more detail.

SnitchSeeker: So architecturally, how did you collaborate with J.K. Rowling on making three different Hogsmeades – one in Orlando, one in Japan and the one here in Los Angeles are quite different..
Thierry: J.K. Rowling has been involved very closely from the very beginning. We’ve been to Scotland to meet with her on multiple occasions to talk about what were designing, and get her input and her feedback. So it’s been great to get from her a lot of the ideas, or confirm that we had taken the right direction in trying to bring more of those elements. When you think about Gladrags, it’s one of the stores that was not originally in Hogsmeade in the stories but with her collaboration we’re able to bring some of the other elements of the fiction to life here at Universal Studios Hollywood.

SnitchSeeker: One of the biggest peeves some of our readers have, and these are British readers, is that the Wizarding World isn’t in where it should be based – in the Harry Potter world in the U.K. Any future possibilities to come to England or Scotland?
Thierry: Well, you know, the beautiful thing about what we do at Universal Studios is we transport our guests into places they don’t expect. Here in Universal Studios Hollywood, it’s really the capital of filmmaking in the world and you expect to be transported into stories and places. So it makes sense to have the Wizarding World here.

It’s not in England yet, but Warner Bros does have a Harry Potter experience at the original studio, which is more behind-the-scenes of the sets and the movies. It’s very cool and it’s authentic to what it was. So, so far we feel it hasn’t been a problem for us. We get a lot of guests from the UK coming to Orlando. They really love coming to Orlando and then all of a sudden being transported to Scotland. It works very well. It’s what we do. We place our guests in the middle of the stories.

SnitchSeeker: Warner Bros announced when the Fantastic Beasts being made that going down the line there would be additions to the theme parks. Any ideas or concepts about that so far?
Thierry: We think Fantastic Beasts has great potential, just like the first books did and the first movies. We haven’t really gone too deep into figuring out what to do yet, but we can’t wait to see and to collaborate with the production to see what the movies are about. For now, there’s so much to explore already in the existing Wizarding World – so much to discover there.

What we’ve done is taken the stories in the books and the movies and leveraged all the depth of storytelling. So every time you come here you feel that you can discover something new. And when the time is right, why not? If Fantastic Beasts looks like it could be another great theme park experience, why not?

SnitchSeeker: When Diagon Alley opened a few years ago, the actors were asked what they would like to add in as an expansion. Tom Felton mentioned he wanted Malfoy Manor. Bonnie Wright said she wanted a Quidditch pitch.experience. Are there any ideas for a new attraction?
Thierry: Currently, when you go on the Hogwarts Express in Orlando, you actually do see the Malfoy Manor. And in Forbidden Journey you go into the Quidditch pitch. So we’ve tried to bring all those iconic places already, whether they’re through the use of film media or sets. But we always listen to our guests. We always want to make sure that we create the next best immersive experience for them. So, I can’t say no or yes to that question, but why not?

SnitchSeeker: Do you have one place in the Wizarding World that you’d like to create and see come to life?
Thierry: I would say the Ministry of Magic has always been my favorite place. If we can find a way, sure. Why not? Again, I think we have so many incredible places, we couldn’t bring all of them to the guests. What we did with J.K. Rowling and the filmmakers is we selected the ‘best of’ and the ones that were the most popular.

I think Harry Potter and the stories are so timeless, there could be a lot more coming in the future. But for now, again, there’s so much to explore with what we’ve created. Our guests can come back again and again and keep seeing new things. And we may add a few elements here and there just to surprise them. It’s part of the fun.

Do note that Coup has said on several occasions that he would love to see the Ministry of Magic come to life, and as he is in charge of bringing the attractions to Universal Parks, he has a huge say in whether or not this could happen. Warner Bros. announced and confirmed years ago that the parks will also see some Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them expansion sometime down the road, so that is expected as well.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, featuring Hogsmeade village and Hogwarts castle, at Universal Studios Hollywood is open now to the public.