Melco Crown Entertainment
has revealed the grand opening date of the $3.2b Hollywood-inspired Studio City, which will offer best-of-class entertainment-fueled leisure offerings.
Lawrence Ho, Co-Chairman and CEO of Melco Crown, announced Wednesday at a press conference that Studio City will officially open on October 27, 2015.
“The opening of Studio City represents another major achievement for Melco Crown Entertainment as we work to develop and re-imagine the future of leisure destination offerings across Asia. It also marks a major milestone for Macau as we continue to deliver on our commitment to expanding the non-gaming leisure and entertainment offerings available in the territory, as a continuing strategy in supporting its evolution into a highly-diversified and world-leading leisure and tourism destination,” said Ho.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. expects Studio City to receive 150 gaming tables like Galaxy Macau Phase 2 but Ho said that Melco Crown has been consistent on its request of 400 tables from Macau government.
“We hope the government will reward us more, for the hard work we have put in over the last 10 years,” said Ho. “Gaming will always be the financial engine for Melco Crown, while non-gaming amenities are an additional draw for customers.”
Studio City has partnered with Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment to add non-gaming entertainment offerings: the 4D flight simulation ride, Batman Dark Flight; a 40,000-square-foot Warner Bros. Fun Zone, a 5000-seat entertainment center and the Golden Reel—the world’s highest figure-8 Ferris wheel.
Melco Crown has also paid $70m for a promotional short film, The Audition, which will premiere at Studio City’s grand opening. The insanely expensive casino-themed movie, starring Robert De Niro, Brad Pit, and Leonardo DiCaprio, will also be included on the list of films playing at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival on September.
“The ‘best-in-class’ entertainment offerings at Studio City are unmatched in Macau. The caliber of our movie-inspired, world-class leisure entertainment is no better exemplified than the endorsement and enthusiastic support of true icons of the cinematic world, who agreed to star in our short film, to celebrate the opening of this magnificent destination resort and support Macau’s evolution into an internationally recognized leisure destination,” added Ho.
“We are just a few months away from the realization of our vision of a leisure and entertainment destination that has no equal in Macau.”
