Warner Bros. establishes new theme parks and global attractions division

Global entertainment company Warner Bros. Discovery has announced a new department to manage its theme parks and in-person experiences in international markets.

The change will see the USA-based company's Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery Worldwide Studio Tours & Retail divisions combined to form the new Warner Bros. Discovery (WPD) Global Experiences entity.

Under the previous structure, one department was responsible for managing attractions and experiences that license of WBD’s intellectual property (like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a partnership with Universal Destinations & Experiences) while the other department was responsible for its location-based entertainment.

The former leaders of the two previously separate entities - Peter van Roden for Global Themed Entertainment and Sarah Roots for Worldwide Studio Tours & Retail - will continue to do so under the new structure, focusing together on Warner Bros. Discovery’s collection of theme parks and experiences. Both will report to Simon Robinson, who will lead the newly formed WBD Global Experiences in addition to performing his existing role as chief operating officer of WBD Studios.

Explaining the change, Robinson advised "our teams have an obsession for detail that we bring to each project, and together, we will be able to bring partners - and fans - even more of what they’ve come to expect from a Warner Bros. experience.”

In a press release the company announced that the new Global Experiences group's The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, and the trio of WB Studio Tours as examples of the types of experiences WBD Global Experiences will be in charge of “pursuing” and “expanding.”

The change impacts attractions worldwide including:

• Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood in California, USA

• Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter in London, UK and Tokyo, Japan

• Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi (partnership with Miral Group), Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia (co-owned with Village Roadshow), and Parque Warner in Spain (co-owned with Parques Reunidos)

• Looney Tunes at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi theme park

• Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi.

• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park lands in Orlando, Florida and Hollywood, California in the USA, and in Osaka, Japan and Beijing, China (partnership with Universal Destinations & Experiences)

• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, California, USA

• Theme park lands and attractions based on Looney Tunes and DC Comics (partnership with Six Flags)

• Touring attractions like The Friends Experience (partnership with Original X Productions) and Harry Potter: The Exhibition (partnership with Imagine Exhibitions)

• Pop-up attractions like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The Afterlife Experience (partnership with Fever)

• Retail stores like Harry Potter New York, USA and The Harry Potter Shop at Platform 9 3/4 in London, UK

Images: Warner Bros. Movie World on Australia's Gold Coast (top) and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio Japan (below, credit; Shutterstock).