Universal Studios to build $2 billion theme park in Beijing

Universal Studios are to begin construction on a 12 billion yuan ($2 billion) Hollywood theme park in Beijing due to open in 2018, the Legal Mirror reported.

The suburban park will be a joint operation between Universal and local company Beijing Tourism Group who will provide land and part of the budget, while Universal heads branding, intellectual property, technology and management of the park, Sina reported.

The Global Times reports that municipal authorities are also planning to build a monorail in Beijing, with the terminus in the new Universal Studios, whose areas will include homages to Hollywood classics such as Jurassic Park and Back to the Future.

After Singapore and Tokyo, the 51-acre park will be Universal's third operation in Asia, where the theme park industry grew by 6 percent in 2012 compared with the previous year, twice the rate in North America.

Shanghai will be getting its own Hollywood theme park in late 2015, when Walt Disney Parks & Resorts will open a 26 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) Magic Kingdom-style affair, complete with two hotels and a Downtown Disney shopping centre.

[Image via Wikipedia]