Steven Spielberg to Design Universal Studios Beijing, Set to Open in 2019

Steven Spielberg will make his mark upon the Universal Studios Beijing amusement park, set to open four years from now, the Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.

"Famous Hollywood director Stephen Spielberg [sic] will be involved in the design of the park which will include many Chinese elements," Xinhua wrote. It did not specify how Spielberg will participate.

At an event celebrating the first anniversary of approval for Universal Studios Beijing in Tongzhou, the company said that the park will open in 2019, with Beijing Subway Line 7 extended to reach it, Xinhua reported.

Originally slated for 51 acres, USD 2 billion, and a January 2018 opening, the approved attraction will now cover 300 acres, cost USD 3.2 billion, and open a year later.

Universal Studios Beijing will "pay 'proper homage to Chinese culture,' said Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts," whatever that means.

Universal Studios Beijing joins similar parks in Singapore and Tokyo. Both Disney and DreamWorks are building parks in Shanghai, with Disney's set to open in 2016.

This isn't Universal's first foray into Beijing. Lao Beijingers will remember the Universal Studios Experience at Henderson Center in the late 1990s, which was designed to bring a bit of movie magic to central Beijing, but as a multimedia experience, not with theme park rides. Unfortunately, neither Henderson's Jianguomennei location nor the attraction ever caught on, and as the mall died a slow and miserable death, so did the Universal Experience, its iconic Universal globe standing unlit and dusty for months before it was finally removed.

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