Photo/Shetuwang

Jan.16 (NBD) -- Japanese electronics major Sony is said to open theme parks in central and western China's Wuhan and Chengdu as international theme park players such as Disney and Universal have already established their presence in the country.

But when reached by news outlet Yicai, the person in charge of the investment and operation of Sony theme park refused to disclose any as the project is confidential.

It is noted that this is not Sony's first try. As early as 2000, it opened the world's first and non-profit science and technology center Sony ExploraScience in Beijing with the theme of "Light and Sound", receiving over millions of visitors.

Industry insiders believed that Sony's move to open theme parks in China may have connection with the growing demand of tourism consumption in recent years.

Statistics showed that the number of theme park visitors in China saw an annual increase of 20 percent in 2017 and is estimated to close to 230 million by the end of 2020, making China the largest theme park market.

Sony owns a pile of copyrights for films and games, and excels in multi-media technologies, which are its edges to enter the Chinese market, reported news outlet Beijing Business Today citing Wei Pengju, dean of the Culture Economics Institute at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

It is noted that Sony is more than a technology company and its ambition in the film sector has long shown.

It acquired U.S.-based Columbia Pictures Entertainment in 1989 and Hollywood movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2005, which gave birth to successful works such as Tom & Jerry, James Bond movies and Stuart Little.

Recently released movies such as Venom and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse also gained popularity in China and Spiderman is likely to be the most valuable intellectual property for Sony.

However, Sony still faces challenges to run theme parks in China.

Statistics show that there are 300 theme parks in China with an investment of above 50 million yuan (7.4 million U.S. dollars) for each, only 10 percent of which turned profitable and 70 percent suffered losses.

In addition, compared to Disney and Universal, Sony is a late comer. In order to differentiate itself from and catch up with the rivals, Sony has to make its big theme park more cultural-oriented and take advantage of high technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence to improve visitor experience, said Wei.

Currently, most of the theme parks are located in eastern and southern coastal regions, which are represented by Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. But the number of theme parks is limited in the vast central and western China where should offer development chances for Sony.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn