🏰 Stat of the Day: A $7B+ Alternate Universe

Select press members were recently allowed a sneak peek inside Universal’s third and newest theme park, Epic Universe, which is set to officially open on May 22 in Orlando, Florida.

That’s epic: Epic Universe is believed to be the largest theme park in the world, at 750 acres all-in. And while Universal hasn’t commented on the park’s cost, outside experts say it likely took up to $7.7 billion to build.

• The park is made up of five themed worlds based around popular content from Universal and Nintendo, including Harry Potter and How to Train Your Dragon.

Big picture: Epic Universe is part of Universal’s larger plan to take aim at (much-larger) rival Disney. Epic Universe is projected to draw ~1 million visitors away from Disney World from 2025-2026, per equity research publisher MoffettNathanson.

🤔 Did You Know? Legendary director Steven Spielberg requires every big movie star he works with to forgo an upfront salary and take backend compensation only, with examples including Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan and Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

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