Today, in ideas you’d think Westworld—or at least “Itchy And Scratchy Land”—would have taught people to stay well the fuck away from, plans for a theme park with areas modeled after The Hunger Games are currently in the works. Lionsgate has been floating this murderously bad idea for a few years now, hoping to entice the franchise’s fans to come hang out in perfectly imagineered recreations of filthy, dystopian coal mines, or possibly a series of maliciously designed murder courses. Now, it’s licensed the series—and several other Lionsgate properties, including Now You See Me and Twilight—to a South Korean theme park developer.
But as excited as we are to experience the Team Edward/Team Jacob dueling brood-coaster—or the Jesse Eisenberg Close-Up Magic Experience—it’s the Hunger Games park that strikes us as the most fascinatingly baffling. Author Suzanne Collins did pretty much everything in her power to make the Districts—even the lavish Capitol—seem like the worst places on Earth in her bestselling books, so there’s something perversely dedicated about a bunch of designers and engineers working to make them an inviting travel destination. Jeju Shinhwa World’s Lionsgate Movie World is expected to debut in 2019, provided the odds stay in its favor for at least a few more years.
