News Universal Studios Japan closing the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man on January 22nd, 2004

[Gartooth]

Universal Parks News Today: Spider-Man closing on January 22nd, 2024 at USJ

The Spider-Man ride at USJ is closing permanently on January 22nd, 2024. It opened at the park on January 23rd, 2004 which is exactly 20 years of operation.

The rumor was that USJ only had the Spider-Man rights for 20 years and that Disney wouldn't renew after that. So this lines up exactly with that. Spider-Man (and Marvel Superhero Island as a whole) at Universal Orlando are safe however because the rights at Islands of Adventure are in perpetuity, so we can enjoy the ride there for many years to come.

USJ also announced that Terminator 2 and Backdraft are also closing permanently, but I believe they haven't been running those shows since the pandemic started anyways so they've just been sitting there.

Spidey and T2 surrounded the New York area leaving it now without any attraction. A long running rumor was that a Pokémon land would take over the entire New York area at USJ and at this point it's all but confirmed. Backdraft closing is interesting cause it's part of the San Francisco area. So either Pokémon land is absolutely massive or they're planning on a 2nd area taking over San Francisco. (Animal Crossing?)

 

[neil]

Is the ride the same as the one in Florida? It's a good one, was lucky enough to try it last year.

 

[Gartooth]

Is the ride the same as the one in Florida? It's a good one, was lucky enough to try it last year.

Yeah its the exact same. I'm glad it's staying in Florida cause I think it's one of the greatest rides ever at a Universal park.

 

[Rooster]

Good, the fewer monuments dedicated towards worshipping that menace, the safer the people of New York will be

Now get me those pictures

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

seems a bit early, isn't Spider-Man 2 (the movie) coming out in a few months?

i heard rumours the upcoming video game adaption is shaping up to be quite special, i certainly hope they nail the web-swinging physics!

 

[VolcanicDynamo]

I'm gonna try and ride this when I go to USJ. Very fond of the Florida version, and I'm glad that it gets to survive the chopping block for the time being, still one of Universal Orlando's best rides.

Even so, if the rumors of Pokémon being the replacement for that portion of the park, I'll have to plan a return trip some time...

 

[Gay Bowser]

seems a bit early, isn't Spider-Man 2 (the movie) coming out in a few months?

i heard rumours the upcoming video game adaption is shaping up to be quite special, i certainly hope they nail the web-swinging physics!

I think they understand that this whole superhero thing is a fad. They already made Batman, X-Men, and Spider-man movies, and those are pretty much all the characters people care about. I think Spider-man 2 will flop; the emotional core of Spider-man is his origin story, with Uncle Ben and learning about “great responsibility,” and you can only make that movie once.

 

[Gartooth]

Japanese Twitter reactions are super negative about this news understandably. I think most people realize Spider-Man going away was a decision from Disney since the contract at USJ could've run out, but dropping the T2 and Backdraft news in there was just salt on the wound even if those haven't been in operation for a couple years.

Most interesting sentiment from the comments is concern about the park losing its identity of a "Hollywood movies" park by veering more into anime and gaming. I'm not sure if that's just the USJ fans talking or if the Japanese public do like USJ's identity of a "movie park" but it's gonna be interesting if Pokemon and more Nintendo does take over a lot of that land. The day Jaws goes its gonna be really sad.

 

[Dinoman96]

The rumor was that USJ only had the Spider-Man rights for 20 years and that Disney wouldn't renew after that. So this lines up exactly with that. Spider-Man (and Marvel Superhero Island as a whole) at Universal Orlando are safe however because the rights at Islands of Adventure are in perpetuity, so we can enjoy the ride there for many years to come.

Can I just say that holy moly, Universal (Orlando) really did luck out with the deal of the century right there back in the day, hahaha.

That Darn Marvel Contract - What Rights Does Universal and Disney Own

We examine the contract and explain what rights each resort has for the use in Theme Parks.

www.insideuniversal.net

 

[Gartooth]

Can I just say that holy moly, Universal (Orlando) really did luck out with the deal of the century right there back in the day, hahaha.

That Darn Marvel Contract - What Rights Does Universal and Disney Own

We examine the contract and explain what rights each resort has for the use in Theme Parks.

www.insideuniversal.net

Every company who managed to get a Marvel deal in perpetuity really cashed out. The Florida theme park rights for Marvel and the Spider-Man film rights are never going back to Disney.