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Dubai - Forget the box office; Dubai Parks and Resorts will bring you real-life cinematic experience

Driving along the winding roads on the site of Motiongate Dubai, Guido Zucchi made a turn and ended up at a dead end.
"This was open just yesterday," the theme park's general manager quips. He explains this happens regularly, thanks to the amount of work being done, prompting changes to how you would navigate in the entire area.
And those dead ends were probably the only things that have gone wrong for him so far.
As the calendar nears the grand opening of Motiongate Dubai, construction has gone smoothly, evidenced by what Khaleej Times saw during an exclusive sneak peek at the site. Buildings, though bound by scaffoldings, are now recognisable.
The Hollywood-inspired theme park is part of the massive Dh10.5 billion Dubai Parks and Resorts, which is slated to open its doors in October - and Zucchi is confident that there won't be any delay.
"We are our schedule, confident of hitting that date," he said.
The holy month of Ramadan will not be an obstacle in completing the destination. "We are not scaling down work during Ramadan," Zucchi says, "as this has already been factored into our work progress.
As Dubai is already established as the tourism hub in the region, the emergence of Dubai Parks and Resorts is expected to add to the emirate's lustre. And it was a no-brainer that Dubai was "absolutely" the right place to be home to what would be the Middle East's biggest multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination.
"Dubai can be now a good destination, because within a few months, the emirate will offer visitors an attraction related to leisure and entertainment that, so far, Dubai has not been able to offer to tourists," Zucchi explained.
And while scale is indeed a factor - the entire area of Dubai Parks and Resorts, comprising motiongate, Bollywood Parks and Legoland Dubai, sprawls 25 million sqft - Zucchi stressed that size doesn't really matter. "Scale is not exactly the most important; guests take into consideration what makes the difference in their experience. Dubai Parks and Resorts is unique; there is no other place in the world where you will see this. they can find only it here," he said.
Resorting to resources
From Motiongate Dubai, the tour crossed over to Bollywood Parks. Spoiler alert: fans of Indian films will be, well, spoilt for choice around here with its attractions.

"What is important is that you understand that we're not creating a park only for Bollywood lovers - we're trying to make a theme park to educate you," Thomas Jellum, Bollywood Parks Dubai general manager, told Khaleej Times.
"We have come to a point that Bollywood can be positioned on a global level," he said, pointing out the fact the number of Indian film stars have made Hollywood breakthroughs, including Anil Kapoor (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), Irfan Khan (Life of Pi), Priyanka Chopra (Baywatch) and Deepika Padukone (xXx: The Return of Xander Cage).
"You don't need to grow up watching Bollywood [films] to love it," Jellum says. And for this, he has a suggestion: instead of watching a movie from Hollywood - or from anywhere else - again for a fifth time, why not trying one from India, which have "very good scripts and are very happy"?
'No competition'
Being in one place will naturally raise questions of competitiveness among the locations at Dubai Parks and Resorts. But Jellum gave the simplest answer to these: none.
It's more of a cooperative type of operation. "There is no competition among us," he stresses. "We talk to each other, we will know each other's figures."
The only competition, Jellum says, are those other theme parks around the world. "You have to view this as a resort; if one doesn't perform well, the rest will suffer. So we have to work together to be successful."
When asked if there is a possibility of adding an Arabic-themed attraction in the destination to cater to locals from the UAE and wider Middle East, Zucchi says that this is not yet in the cards - though it would well be a very interesting proposition.
Action-packed
To create the most authentic experience possible, Motiongate Dubai and Bollywood Parks joined hands with the best minds and talents in the industry. Collaborations have been fruitful, upping the ante for expectations of successful offerings.
At Motiongate Dubai, representatives from major film studios Sony Pictures and Lionsgate arrived to pitch in even more.
"They are heavily involved in what we're doing," Zucchi says.
Over at Bollywood Parks Dubai, stars like Shah Rukh Khan and others themselves had a say in the development.
The target of 6.7 million visitors in 2017 is a welcome goal. And Dubai Parks and Resorts is ready for what is ahead further into the future. "Expectations are high," Zucchi says. "And we're ready to realise these."
Indeed; surely, rather than getting stuck at a dead end, it's better to lose yourself at a place like Dubai Parks and Resorts. And you won't need 3D glasses for it.
alvin@khaleejtimes.com