These days, if you want to ride with Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, you generally have to go to a Six Flags theme park. But that might change in the future, as Warner Bros. is reportedly exploring new theme park partners for its signature comic book brand, DC Studios.
Bloomberg reports that DC Studios is currently in talks with multiple theme park operators, including Universal, to license its characters for new rides and attractions. Talks “are at an early stage and don’t yet involve contractual negotiations,” according to the report, but they’re happening. Also, this wouldn’t put an end to the Six Flags deal. It would just put DC characters into another set of theme parks.
Universal is the only specific other theme park operator mentioned in the piece and, clearly, would be the biggest. It already has the license to Marvel Studios in its Orlando parks and has a deal with Warner Bros. for its Harry Potter franchise, as well as all the big ones in-house: Jurassic Park, How to Train Your Dragon, Monsters, etc.
No matter whom, if anyone, acquires the rights, the main thing the deal does is make more immersive lands a possibility. Right now, at Six Flags parks with DC rides, there is certainly theming in and around the rides. But there isn’t a full-on Gotham City section of a park or Metropolis or anything, like we see at Disney or Universal with Star Wars or Harry Potter. This deal, especially if Universal ends up getting it, opens that possibility up.
However, this news also broke almost simultaneously with the even bigger news of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix just recently began opening small, almost mini theme parks called “Netflix House,” so you have to think that idea could become something bigger with all the new property it’s acquiring. Or, the powers that be could shut down any talks that began before the deal was in place. Why would Netflix want to help Universal by letting it make Batman rides if Netflix owns Batman?
Certainly, there are a lot of factors at play here. But the main takeaway is that, at some point in the future, there’s a good chance DC will join Marvel in getting much bigger, better, theme park immersive experiences. Where do you want to see DC show up?
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