China’s ‘Netflix’ iQiyi to open theme park with VR based on its shows

BEIJING — Chinese videostreaming platform iQiyi announced Thursday it plans later this year to open its first full-fledged theme park in China based on characters from its own shows.

The forthcoming “iQiyi Land” is set to open in the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province, just over two hours from Shanghai by high-speed train. The company said the theme park will include seven types of attractions — including immersive theater, interactive film sets and experiences that use virtual reality — largely based on characters from iQiyi’s films and television dramas.

It’s the latest company to bet that local consumers will spend more on experiences, despite tepid retail sales.

Legoland is opening its first China resort in Shanghai this summer, while Warner Bros. Discovery last month announced it is opening a “Harry Potter Studio Tour” in 2027 in the same city. Chinese toy company Pop Mart opened a themed “Pop Land” in Beijing in late 2023, which has become the most popular attraction in the city’s business district, according to rankings from Dianping.

IQiyi’s planned theme park builds on the company’s recent success with VR-specific attractions.

The company has developed technology that combines VR headsets with moving platforms — giving visitors the impression that they are walking, riding on boats or sitting in a flying carriage. That means a theme park-like experience can be compressed into a space

Since iQiyi’s first dedicated VR experience opened in Shanghai two years ago, the company has worked with business partners to open more than 40 locations in at least 20 Chinese cities. One VR experience based on iQiyi’s “Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty: To the West” gained more than 100,000 visitors in its first year of opening, according to the company.

VR, gaming and artificial intelligence have enabled the emergence of “distributed” theme parks that are more compact, interactive and able to iterate content more quickly, Hang Zhang, senior vice president at iQiyi, said in a Chinese statement translated by CNBC.

He said some of the VR-based experiences will first be released in iQiyi Land before they’re launched in other venues.

IQiyi shares closed nearly 3% higher in U.S. trading Thursday and are up 14% for the year so far.

The association announced Wednesday that the head of Disney Parks International would speak at its Asia expo this summer in Shanghai.

Disney, whose Disneyland in Shanghai opened in 2016, reported a 28% year-on-year increase in international parks and experiences operating income in the quarter ended Dec. 28, in contrast with a 5% decline in the U.S.

Comcast, whose Universal Studios Beijing opened in 2021, said higher revenue at its international theme parks offset lower guest attendance at its U.S. parks in the fourth quarter.

Tourism has been a rare bright spot in China’s otherwise lackluster consumer market. The consumer price index, an indicator of domestic demand, rose by just 0.2% last year while the tourism component increased by 3.5%.

China’s plan to boost consumption this year called specifically for developing the experience economy. IQiyi has previously worked with a local tourism board to produce a television drama set in a remote part of China, drawing visitors.

However, competition in content remains fierce. IQiyi reported an 8% drop in 2024 revenue to 29.23 billion yuan, reversing a 10% increase the prior year.

Theme park projects can also face delays.

A Legoland in western China’s Sichuan province was originally scheduled to open by 2023. When CNBC contacted operator Merlin Entertainments about the project, the company only emphasized the summer opening of Legoland in Shanghai this summer.

Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC.

Clarification: This story was updated to reflect the correct title of the iQiyi drama, “Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty: To the West.” A previous version was based on a provided translation, which was inaccurate.