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The decision was made earlier. The "everyone freak out" signal was on Wednesday afternoon.

days like this where I wish I could get inside info.

Happen to know an executive through family members, but I doubt they have relation to HHN. But oh well.

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So, first time poster but long time reader. Here is my current theory on what might have gone down. I have no insider info and all of this is just pure speculation based on what I know happens with the IP holders typically. 

1) A & D wanted to do a Scream house based on the movie

2) The IP holder, like he did with Hollywood, was VERY strict and only gave Orlando permission to make a house based on the TV show. As we know, the Hollywood version was only allowed to use elements from Movie 4. It is also rumored that the true reason behind the new mask for MTV was because the right holder would not allow the mask to be shown in a TV show. Overall, it seems the rights holder is a major pain to deal with.

3) Marketing agreed to the right holders terms forcing A & D to create a house using elements from the TV show.

4) A & D decided to build a "house" setting for the maze featuring elements and scares that were close to the movie but would feature the new mask from the TV show and a couple scares. The TV show is all over the place so having a focused location like a home makes sense.

5) The house was finished last week. Normally in the contact, IP holders get final say and can come in and tweak things. It happens a lot with IP houses. If the IP holder is not happy with a small detail or the look of a room, they tell A & D what they want changed and they have enough time to repaint a wall or change a few details. 

6) Over the weekend, the IP holder came down to see the house. It could be during his tour, he thought the maze was too close to the movie, thus voiding the terms of the contract. If the contract states only elements from the TV show be used and A & D decided to toss in some scares/scenes not found in the TV show, then the IP holder has legal ground to end the terms of the contract. 

7) With the contract now void and the IP holder proving once again how controlling he is, it was decided to scrap the house rather than deal with the demands of the IP holder. 

8) Monday morning started the crazy drama of figuring out what they are going to do. They promised 9 houses and now only have 8 they can use with about 25-30 days to get something finished. Not to mention the fact that marketing now has to recreate all the press releases, billboards, grocery store displays, TV spots, and maybe even all the merchandise. 

One things for sure, if this all turns out to be true, it cost Universal a lot of money. Just imagine if all the t-shirts, lanyards, coffee mugs, etc had already been made and were sitting in a storeroom. ALL of that has to be destroyed and recreated to remove the Scream logo. With the event so close, its not unlikely that this could be the case. In year's past, some t-shirts started to go on sale before the event started. Plus, park maps might have been printed since they knew the location of all the houses well in advance. Billboards were for sure created and printed, just not placed. This could easily end up costing Universal a million dollars or more to correct.  

While I am by no means a lawyer, Universal could attempt to sue the IP holder if they feel the house they created didn't void the contract to recover some of this money. However, with the event so close, they can't worry about that now. They HAVE to get something in that location. They have announced 9 houses. If the event opens and only has 8 houses, they face a major PR/lawsuit nightmare far scarier than anything A & D can dream up.

The most logical replacement would be the Purge or coming up with an original concept. Universal owns the rights to the Purge and it was well received last year. They have all the masks and weapons they need from last year. The first movie took place in a house. Simply repaint rooms, change some props and you have a house that looks something like the Purge home. Of course, they could just come up with any random theme for an original that took place in a home as well. At this late stage, they can't rebuild. All they can do is re-theme and hope for the best. I just feel sorry for all of them. They should be celebrating the fact that everything was basically finished and now their big 25th anniversary is causing them a ton of stress at the last minute.  

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The studio/rights holders to the Scream franchise sound like a bunch of dicks :( Now I understand why Murdy in Hollywood wants nothing more to do with the Scream franchise.. It has nothing to do with the environments or whether or not Ghostface is still considered "serious horror" after being parodied in Scary Movie, He just doesn't want to put up with the Scream rights holders again, especially after the nightmare of dealing with them in 2011

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So, first time poster but long time reader. Here is my current theory on what might have gone down. I have no insider info and all of this is just pure speculation based on what I know happens with the IP holders typically. 

1) A & D wanted to do a Scream house based on the movie

2) The IP holder, like he did with Hollywood, was VERY strict and only gave Orlando permission to make a house based on the TV show. As we know, the Hollywood version was only allowed to use elements from Movie 4. It is also rumored that the true reason behind the new mask for MTV was because the right holder would not allow the mask to be shown in a TV show. Overall, it seems the rights holder is a major pain to deal with.

3) Marketing agreed to the right holders terms forcing A & D to create a house using elements from the TV show.

4) A & D decided to build a "house" setting for the maze featuring elements and scares that were close to the movie but would feature the new mask from the TV show and a couple scares. The TV show is all over the place so having a focused location like a home makes sense.

5) The house was finished last week. Normally in the contact, IP holders get final say and can come in and tweak things. It happens a lot with IP houses. If the IP holder is not happy with a small detail or the look of a room, they tell A & D what they want changed and they have enough time to repaint a wall or change a few details. 

6) Over the weekend, the IP holder came down to see the house. It could be during his tour, he thought the maze was too close to the movie, thus voiding the terms of the contract. If the contract states only elements from the TV show be used and A & D decided to toss in some scares/scenes not found in the TV show, then the IP holder has legal ground to end the terms of the contract. 

7) With the contract now void and the IP holder proving once again how controlling he is, it was decided to scrap the house rather than deal with the demands of the IP holder. 

8) Monday morning started the crazy drama of figuring out what they are going to do. They promised 9 houses and now only have 8 they can use with about 25-30 days to get something finished. Not to mention the fact that marketing now has to recreate all the press releases, billboards, grocery store displays, TV spots, and maybe even all the merchandise. 

One things for sure, if this all turns out to be true, it cost Universal a lot of money. Just imagine if all the t-shirts, lanyards, coffee mugs, etc had already been made and were sitting in a storeroom. ALL of that has to be destroyed and recreated to remove the Scream logo. With the event so close, its not unlikely that this could be the case. In year's past, some t-shirts started to go on sale before the event started. Plus, park maps might have been printed since they knew the location of all the houses well in advance. Billboards were for sure created and printed, just not placed. This could easily end up costing Universal a million dollars or more to correct.  

While I am by no means a lawyer, Universal could attempt to sue the IP holder if they feel the house they created didn't void the contract to recover some of this money. However, with the event so close, they can't worry about that now. They HAVE to get something in that location. They have announced 9 houses. If the event opens and only has 8 houses, they face a major PR/lawsuit nightmare far scarier than anything A & D can dream up.

The most logical replacement would be the Purge or coming up with an original concept. Universal owns the rights to the Purge and it was well received last year. They have all the masks and weapons they need from last year. The first movie took place in a house. Simply repaint rooms, change some props and you have a house that looks something like the Purge home. Of course, they could just come up with any random theme for an original that took place in a home as well. At this late stage, they can't rebuild. All they can do is re-theme and hope for the best. I just feel sorry for all of them. They should be celebrating the fact that everything was basically finished and now their big 25th anniversary is causing them a ton of stress at the last minute.  

you my friend, nailed it. Best idea anyone without any inside info could do.

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Anyone see the HHN Twitter? We got a nice little video of 30 secs from Mike. Seems to be some offices... Not sure what it is. 

Someone mentioned a flip in the comments which was interesting. Along with some extra tweets.

Edited by Marco-S
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Wow, I am surprised so many of you guys like me. Figured my theory would get shot down but it was all I was thinking about at work today and it just made the most sense. Something HAD to have happened to cause a massive shakeup. The IP holder is proven to be hard to deal with. IP holders normally always get final walkthroughs a couple of weeks before opening night. All the details and timing just added up. Like I said, this could be totally wrong, but I just had to get it out there to see what others thought. Looking forward to getting a real answer...if one ever comes.

 

EDIT: One things for sure though. If this does turn out to be somewhat true, you can kiss any hopes of ever seeing Scream at HHN goodbye. No way they will ever go through this again. Lesson learned for sure. Next year, IP contracts will be ironclad with no escape route for the IP holder. You don't like the contract? Tough luck...there are a ton of IP's that would kill to be at HHN.

Edited by Badge
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That could be a fine example of what happens when you get greedy with to many IP's. Just my opinion. Of corse that is all speculation and nothing is confirmed. However like those said before me what Badge said seems very believable as a scenario.

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I'm a little surprised they would drop the ball like this on the 25th anniversary. I can't wait to see what the replacement is going to be. 

While I guess at this point it's all a matter of opinion, I don't personally feel like Uni has dropped the ball. To me it'd be a "dropped ball" only if this issue isn't addressed (I.E if this is all true and they end up not having the 9th house, although I can't imagine the pressure they're feeling.) To me Mike, and everyone else involved has displayed incredible poise and resilience. From the sounds of it they are trying to work through the problem (whatever it is) and it's all happening fairly quietly- of which I am really astounded, considering info concerning HHN is often known for having leaky piping....

 

That could be a fine example of what happens when you get greedy with to many IP's. Just my opinion. Of corse that is all speculation and nothing is confirmed. However like those said before me what Badge said seems very believable as a scenario.

I feel like it's less because of them being greedy wanting to use too many IPs but the IPs/IP holders themselves being greedy. 
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With all these shenanigans that is taking place and knowing A&D have never really given us a reason to feel that the quality of the event would be nothing lowered than the best, I'm not really worried at all. I have seen this event for a couple of years and yes some of us nitpick and feel some houses weren't the best as it could be but I never exited a house on my first visit and ever said this house was so half-assed that A&D just needed another house to fit the required amount. Even in my least liked houses through the years, I can feel and see the blood, sweat, and tears that everyone who worked on tried their hardest and admire that. So I won't go to this newly unmarked 9th house as untapped potential but a testament on how A&D does amazing work even under pressure.

What I actually hope in this situation, Is that A&D finds in their old idea cabinet of original concept houses that never saw the light of day and used this opportunity to show how flexible yet creative they actually are and maybe have it become a hit or create a new one with the few time that they have but use the overlay that they have. Having the overdone 90's movie ending gimmick, of having the old arrogant high classed man (being higher up management) telling our young but wise creative rapscallion (being A&D) saying that they were wrong for forcing IPs down their throats and will limit them to 1-2 IPs per year and we all win. But I know it's very far fetched but that be an ideal ending to the drama. 

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Guest kiwisoup

I think I pointed out back before any announcements, but I'm not sure people have brought up again is that the Scream franchise and the Ghost Face Mask are owned by two different companies. The film series is currently owned by Dimension under The Weinstein Company (A couple bonus facts are that it used to be under a subdivision of Disney and the Scary Movie franchise is owned by the same company). The Ghost Face Mask is owned by Fun World and was licensed for the movies and was not used in the TV show (perhaps to cut licensing costs or because an agreement couldn't be made). So you have two different companies you have to have a licensing agreement with...at least one of which is known to be a pain to work with at Hollywood's HHN and insisted on only using the then-relevant Scream 4 movie, then you have a movie series and a more relevant TV series to contend with...the TV series just being renewed for a second season. It all just sounds like a nightmare. I'm just kinda wondering if the plan started with the Movie then transitioned to pressure for the TV show, or if the TV show was the plan the whole time.

Edited by kiwisoup
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This is my first post here. How is everyone so sure scream was cancelled?  I know it's odd they aren't announcing the houses but they didn't say it was cancelled. I booked a private tour for the first time and the email said my tour last all night. The website says 4 1-2 hours. I called universal and they said that there were mistakes made on the website this year and the tour last the whole event. What I'm getting at is marketing and the business people have really dropped the ball for the 25th year. They still haven't corrected the mistakes on the site. Are you sure the house was cancelled, or marketing just hasn't come to an agreement on how they will present the material to the public this year? I am still holding out hope for scream, and the ghost face mask, not blow up doll mask.

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This is my first post here. How is everyone so sure scream was cancelled?  I know it's odd they aren't announcing the houses but they didn't say it was cancelled. I booked a private tour for the first time and the email said my tour last all night. The website says 4 1-2 hours. I called universal and they said that there were mistakes made on the website this year and the tour last the whole event. What I'm getting at is marketing and the business people have really dropped the ball for the 25th year. They still haven't corrected the mistakes on the site. Are you sure the house was cancelled, or marketing just hasn't come to an agreement on how they will present the material to the public this year? I am still holding out hope for scream, and the ghost face mask, not blow up doll mask.

Because several people with reliable sources have said Scream is scrapped.

 

Also, welcome!

Edited by Dead Inside
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Hey all first time posting here. Belonged awhile ago but just rejoined. Very exciting stuff going on this year. I personally am enjoying it all. But I stumbled upon this last night on Twitter. These guys are normally pretty reliable. So if true and it is being demolished, does this mean we could have a whole new type of house and not just an overlay for what is currently there.

Screenshot_20150814-234149.png

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