Thinkwell Group
| Private company | |
| Industry | Experience design |
| Founded | (2001) |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, USA |
|
Key people
|
Joe Zenas, Partner, Chief Executive Officer; Craig Hanna, Co-Founder and Partner, Chief Creative Officer; Francois Bergeron, Co-Founder and Partner, Chief Operating Officer |
|
Number of employees
|
Approx. 150 (2013) |
| Website | thinkwellgroup.com |
Thinkwell Group is an award-winning global experience design and production agency that was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.[1] Thinkwell specializes in the creation and master planning of theme parks, destination resorts, major branded and intellectual property attractions, events & spectaculars, museums & exhibits, expos, and live shows around the world. Since 2006, Thinkwell has gone from approximately 35 employees to more than 180, though the exact number fluctuates depending on the company's workload.[2][3] Thinkwell was named "Most Honored Theme Park Design Company" at the 2013 Theme Park and Attractions Summit & Awards in Beijing.[4]
Work
Thinkwell Group's clients include Warner Bros., Universal, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sesame Workshop, Ferrari World, House of Blues, The Pier Shops at Caesars and Cirque du Soleil, among others.[5]
Some of Thinkwell's noteworthy projects include Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter,[6] a behind-the-scenes tour of the sets where all eight Harry Potter films were made at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden; Ski Dubai, an indoor ski resort in the Mall of the Emirates; NatureQuest, an immersive children's exhibit at Atlanta's Fernbank Museum of Natural History; the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Grand Opening Event for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Parks and Resorts' Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida;[7] and Jurassic Park Institute Tour, a 50,000-square-foot traveling educational attraction based on the movie Jurassic Park.[8]
In recent years, Thinkwell has been selected to design and produce various theme parks in China, which is experiencing a significant growth period in the themed entertainment industry.[9] Thinkwell's current projects in China that are in development include Monkey Kingdom (Beijing), based on the 16th century Journey to the West Chinese folk tale,[10][11] and Jurassic Dream, an indoor theme park in the Heilongjiang Province of China.[6][12] Recently opened projects include Eontime World, a massive indoor theme park, and SongSong Town, an "activity park" inside LeSong Plaza, both of which are located in Harbin, a province in northern China.[13] Warner Bros. Fun Zone, another Thinkwell-designed and produced project in Macau, opened in October 2015 in the newly opened hotel and casino mega-resort, Studio City.
Thinkwell also continues to expand their foothold in the Middle East with new projects. Announced as the official Content Masterplanners and Designers[14] for Expo 2020 Dubai, Thinkwell is responsible for translating the theme of “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” on the Expo site that spans over 1,000 acres just outside of Dubai. Thinkwell will also interpret the Expo’s sub-themes of Opportunity, Mobility, and Sustainability that will converge at the central Al Wasl Plaza, the iconic center point of the six-month international event space for live performances and international pageantry.
2015 marked a significant year for Thinkwell with the opening of 14 projects around the world, a record number of openings in a single year for the company. In addition to three openings in China, Eontime World, SongSong Town, and Warner Bros. Fun Zone, Thinkwell opened the first major expansion to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter, which includes a recreation of Platform 9 3/4 and the original Hogwarts Express train. Also for Warner Bros., Thinkwell designed and produced the interactive attraction, Stage 48: Script to Screen at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, which offers guests a hands-on introduction to the television and filmmaking process. Thinkwell also opened two museum projects, Aquanaut Adventure: A Discovery Zone at the Georgia Aquarium and the Worlds of Puppetry Museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts, both in Atlanta, Georgia. The summer of 2015 also saw the opening of two projects for major entertainment studios; an exciting media event celebrating the opening of the Fast & Furious: Supercharged attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood and The Hunger Games: The Exhibition, a traveling exhibition created in partnership with Lionsgate and based on the blockbuster The Hunger Games movie and book franchise. During a teleconference call to discuss this exhibition, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said, "Thinkwell … is spearheading an initiative for line extensions of The Hunger Games and all of our other brands."[15]
References
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