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Tony Christopher
Since 1980, the Landmark Entertainment Group has developed and produced a wide range of theme park and leisure attractions, live entertainment, film and television productions. Its 100-plus worldwide projects represent a construction value of well over four billion dollars. Landmark success stories include shows and attractions for Six Flags, Universal Studios and Caesars Palace and the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Spider-Man 3D at Universal’s Islands of Adventure is still recognised by many as “the world’s best ride.”
Headquartered in Burbank, California, many of the company’s projects in recent years have been further east. Landmark founder, president and CEO Tony Christopher, who has also served two years as chairman of the China Themed Attractions Summit, tells Park World about doing business in China, and why the industry as whole should have a very optimistic outlook right now.
When did you first visit China?
Twelve years ago. We worked on a project in Wuhan, which is the exact centre of China. There was a developer there that wanted to do a theme park.
When I flew in to Wuhan I was met by client and I understood instantly how great and friendly the Chinese people were. I have always been really taken care of in China. I was whisked off in a gigantic stretch limo: Can you imagine? We were travelling on this road from the airport to the town for 15 to 20 minutes and there was literally no one on it. That was the first time I realised the Chinese don’t need cars to build roads, they don’t need tenants to build houses or condominiums; they just build them and worry about all that sustainable project stuff later. Looking around, I thought: “How can you be thinking about building a theme park here?” There were no cars and conditions looked near poverty level. Then suddenly we turned the corner and we come to this incredible development, gates swung open, guards came out with white gloves, and we drove up to this brass and glass nightclub to meet my client and have dinner.
I really saw face to face that combination of the poor and the rich, which I think has always been the case – although the middle classes are growing all the time. The problem 12 years ago was that there wasn’t population base that could afford to go to a theme park. We designed a whole park, but ultimately it never received finance.
Where is the development money coming from? Is it all still government-backed?
China is one of the countries where the government really is your partner in everything. In the States, the government doesn’t come in and say “I like that building, change the style” but in China they do! Often the client is not saying what they want but saying what they think the government wants.
The government is now very keen in encouraging private investment. Of course that was not the case 10 years ago. Now the government is doing whatever it can to privatise business, which means typically that businesses are backed by the government in some way or fashion. We have found dealing with companies who may have very strong government connection, even though they may be private companies, works best for us.
How do you ensure a project is viable?
My experience is that the Chinese don’t go through the typical processes that we ask of them. They don’t quite understand the value of a feasibility study and the conceptual design phase. The Chinese are very entrepreneurial, they jump in, they just build it and if it’s doesn’t work they’ll tear it down.
When we look at projects today, we do a feasibility study. We like all our clients to do the practical planning, the financial planning, as well as develop the big creative ideas. We really take a look at the population, the household incomes – there is not really a great deal of information available to rely on – and then we discount it by a percentage. Then we ask our client what they think the cost should be. Typically they want to spend more money than they should, and we are telling them: “No you’ve got to be more practical. You’ve got to invest with high creativity and low cost.” To do that, it’s imperative really that everything be built in China.
What projects have you completed in China?
When we started in China I was absolutely convinced this was the biggest market in the world and was going to hit our industry like a ton of bricks. It hasn’t taken off exactly the way I thought. My advice to anyone trying to work in China is that if you go there looking for a contract you may not get one, but if you go looking to build great relationships, that’s the best way to start. We’ve been working there long enough now that people recommend us.
The main project that we have competed in China is Floraland, in Chengdu. The first phase of that opened in 2005 and the second phase will open in 2007. Floraland was successful, but not in the way we would think. We would typically open up a theme park, many people come, they spend lots of money; and that pays for the project.
In this case the reason they bought a large parcel of land is because they agreed to build the theme park by first selling all of the parcels for apartments, condominiums etc, and made all their money back within one year. As much as I hate to say it, entertainment was not the focus, but if they have to do a theme park to make the government happy, they will.
Having said that, within the first 10 days at Floraland they saw 40,000 people. So now we are working on phase II, which is a new theme park and a waterpark as well as additional retail, a sports complex and, of course, additional housing.
We are working with some very serious developers who have now decided: “Let’s focus on the theme park, let’s focus on the entertainment, and maybe if we make that successful too, our land values will go even higher.” Chengdu is now a hotbed of activity for theme parks and we know of at least two or three other developers that are thinking of doing theme parks there, so we think it is going to be a big market – the Orlando of China.
You were involved with an expo project last year in the city of Hangzhou that was built but never fully opened. Is this kind of thing really sustainable?
The developer in Hangzhou is wild. He wrote a book about developing theme parks in China, and is very, very proud of that book. We did some work there, but didn’t actually build. There’s no question that he’s not really focused on the entertainment side, although that is how he got the government interested.
We would walk through spaces that were huge and cavernous and he would go: “What do you think we should do with this?” and I would say, “You know in the United States we would not get the money to do anything if we did not have a really strong idea about how we were going to make money.” His reply would be “Oh, you don’t know China.”
That kind of attitude is not going to lead to long term success, and those kinds of developments, like anywhere else in the world, are eventually going to be frowned upon in China.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’ve got about a dozen projects that we are working on, in all different stages of development and it almost sounds silly for me to say, but I am excited about every single one of them. Where in other countries they have a very fixed idea about what they want, we have a beautiful white canvas almost every time with our Chinese clients. They’re really not sure what to do so they are looking for some good advice, and it’s like a kid in a candy store; we have been able to do some really cool stuff.
I think some people in this business have the attitude that China is in the ‘40s or the ‘50s. It isn’t like that. I see China as a place that knows the world, and they want the very best of it. Every ride that we propose for a project, they always want it to be the most exciting ride, that Spider-Man 3D. We have to explain there are costs associated with it; they can’t always afford it.
But, of course, none of us are China experts, there’s no book. All of us working in China are, in a way, pioneers. I am convinced more and more that just taking something that works elsewhere, picking it up and parking it in China is not going to work. We really have to tear all the old ideas apart and create something new tailor-made for the Chinese market.
What about work outside of China?
We have three or four projects going on in Korea, and there’s quite a lot going on in Russia and Dubai. From my perspective, there are a lot of things going on in the world. I know a lot of people who think our industry is winding down, it’s over! I think just the opposite. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. As technology advances, attractions and experiences become more sophisticated. With access to all these new markets, this is going to be an amazing business to be in.
