Dubai: UAE-based Al Ahli Group said it will build a $1-billion theme park in Dubai in a deal with Marvel Entertainment, the American company that licenses comic characters like Spiderman.
Al Ahli said the theme park, scheduled to open in 2011, will bring a new form of children-focused entertainment to the city that is spending billions of dollars on building a viable tourism industry.
"Family entertainment has not evolved with Dubai's growth. This project will address that need," chief executive officer Mohammad Khammas said. The UAE firm is the sole developer of the theme park.
Most ambitious
The government's most ambitious tourism and entertainment project is Dubailand.
It will have 12 entertainment parks, including one of the largest water parks in the world. The theme parks will include The Restless Planet, a dinosaur theme park being developed in cooperation with the UK's Natural History Museum.
Khammas did not say where his theme park would be located.
Al Ahli may create a separate entity that will develop the project and raise money through a listing on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX).
"We are considering it," Khammas told reporters yesterday after signing the licensing agreement with Marvel Studios' chairman David Maisel.
Marvel will make available its full range of characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men, Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer.
The creative team developing the Dubai theme park will be based in Hollywood, Orlando and Dubai throughout the four-year development process.
