Thinkwell Group
| Company type | 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 experience design and production firm that was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.[1] Since 2006, Thinkwell has gone from approximately 35 employees to more than 150, 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 have included Warner Bros., Universal, 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 theme park industry.[9] Thinkwell's current projects in China 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] Both are currently in development.
Lionsgate has partnered with Thinkwell Group to create a Hunger Games traveling exhibition set to begin touring U.S. cities in the summer of 2015, ahead of the worldwide release of the fourth film in the series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2. During a teleconference call, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said, "Thinkwell … is spearheading an initiative for line extensions of The Hunger Games and all of our other brands."[13]
References
- ^ "How do you create the unforgettable? Being able to direct an army of experts sure helps". Entrepreneur. 1 October 2007.
- ^ "Playing With New Themes". Los Angeles Times. 12 April 2006.
- ^ "An Interview with the Industry's Shapeshifters". Entertainment Designer. 29 April 2013.
- ^ "Thinkwell named "Most Honored Theme Park Design Company" at Beijing Summit". ThemeParkPost. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ^ "Thinkwell Clients". Thinkwell Group. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
- ^ a b MacDonald, Brady (21 March 2012). "'Harry Potter' movie studio tour opens outside London". Los Angeles Times. Cite error: The named reference "Los Angeles Times" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Universal Orlando's celebrity opening ceremony for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter". Theme Park Insider. 16 June 2010.
- ^ "Designing theme park rides: An $8M business". Fortune. 18 May 2007.
- ^ MacLeod, Calum (4 July 2012). "Disney inspires boom in China amusement parks". USA Today.
- ^ MacDonald, Brady (7 July 2011). "Monkey Kingdom theme park set to open in China in 2014". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Pierson, David (19 June 2011). "Theme park designers draw steady work in Asia". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Ungerleider, Neal (12 July 2012). "Flames of Fury, Animatronic Raptors, and a Brachiosaurus Half-Pipe: Inside China's Massive Jurassic Dream Theme Park". Fast Company.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (30 May 2014). "Lionsgate Moving Ahead on 'Hunger Games' Theme Park Plans". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 August 2014.