HHN 27 Speculation

[Jediwhit82]

I'm getting really excited for this year, Blumhouse is the only house I'm not really excited to see.

[OhHaiInternet95]

^It looks like the house in the MIB tent will be the budget house. With nine houses, that's to be expected.

[Vampyr]

Has anyone else received a marketing email from Universal titled "Add Darkness to Your Day" every. Single. Day? It's obviously a glitch, but it's so annoying!

[ForeverEvil1]

50 minutes ago, Vampyr said:

Has anyone else received a marketing email from Universal titled "Add Darkness to Your Day" every. Single. Day? It's obviously a glitch, but it's so annoying!

 

Well it certainly is adding darkness to your day then.

[PeoriaBJJ]

21 minutes ago, ForeverEvil1 said:

 

Well it certainly is adding darkness to your day then.

LOL

[criticalanalysis]

On 8/19/2017 at 0:20 AM, Horrorisprettyrad said:

but if there is something that we can agree on, is that the scare zones don't sound very interesting at all this year. I hope Trick or treat turns out okay, but those house-box things aren't looking to great

 

Agreed

[Jediwhit82]

If any of you live in Orlando, I would love to see some trickrtreat pumpkins with the eclipse in the background.

[Ringwraith]

On 8/17/2017 at 10:19 PM, BenjaminNicholas said:

I hold out hope that the level of detail this year will make it worthwhile.  As for the actual houses, so far, I'm unimpressed.  

 

IP....  Rinse... Repeat.  Welcome to Comcast.  It's HHN for the masses and as long as the general public knows it's based off a film, why do anything original?  In an odd way, it's the same thing that's happening to Broadway:  Just musicalize a movie that people know.  Original work be damned.

 

 

 

To educate myself a little more, I wanted to dig a little deeper and find out of there were any trends to IP's vs Originals in any event year.

 

16 was incredible, as it was full of originality and one of the best years in HHN history. Sweet 16 had 4 icons and mostly original content.

 

17 was when the IP's began and I think it was because we were cross pollinating with HHN in Hollywood. I don't know if we were trying something new by having an event with the New Line characters, but I personally don't think it worked all that well, after witnessing it first hand. It was kind of out of character(no pun intended) because most of the prior years had been original. It was almost as if we were trying to help save a struggling Hollywood HHN get back on its feet.

 

18 was fantastic again. Bloody Mary was the overall theme and we had loads of original content along with a few IP's here and there. This would suggest a trend that maybe we were going to alternate IP and original years in order to gain the attention of the crowds from the previous year, but keep the original fan base.

 

19 would follow suit with this theory because lo and behold, we had Ripped From the Silver Screen, which was mostly IP related. I can't explain it, but I really liked this year even though it was mostly IP related. Maybe it was the Usher or the fact I produced my first film this year, but I really enjoyed it.

 

20 the pattern continues back to originals by bringing Fear to the table. Fear was a weak icon, but he still represented the storytelling that HHN was always trying to portray with its icons. There were very little IP's and Original content reigned supreme. Again, I think this was because they followed up a mostly IP related year.

 

21 This year broke the pattern of going back to IP's following an original year. However, I think this year was the turning point and they may have struggled with attendance(correct me if I'm wrong). I remember the nights in the park during this year, being relatively quiet.

 

22 In order to gain traction, HHN in Orlando had to grasp for something that they knew the fans would not ignore. The Walking Dead. And that was the beginning of the IP craze and they haven't looked back since. Granted, it's only been 5 years, but when they see those numbers coming in, it's hard to look back. And they had no need for an icon.

 

23 No icon needed again. Walking dead again....

 

24 No icon...again....Walking dead again

 

25 Back to Jack and one of the best houses ever, because it was a mashup of all original content and a history lesson in HHN Orlando. However, still more Walking Dead and IP's

 

26 Chance is the icon(weak in my opinion, but an icon no less) and we get Walking Dead AND AHS with three seasons. Still loads of IP content.

 

27  Believe it or not, in comparison to previous years, we're starting to drift back to the original side. Ever so slowly, but it's still happening.

 

28 Prediction: We will get one season at best of AHS, no Walking Dead, and no Purge. I wholeheartedly believe we're in for a 6/3 split next year when it comes to original vs IP and I think we'll be getting an icon. I really believe the mistakes from marketing will be scrutinized, they'll put a face to the event and that this year happened because they are honestly working on the greater picture and creating original content once again.

 

I actually started out irritated at the thought of what I might find when digging through the past years but halfway through writing this, I realized there were patterns and reasons for things being the way they were. This made me also believe there's hope for the future and all of us that enjoy what Creative likes to conjure up.

 

In addition: I can't help but wonder if the echoes of the amazing reviews from HHN Singapore these past couple of years will influence anything on this side of town. I know they are different markets, but they have been all about original content.

Edited August 21, 2017 by Ringwraith

[OhHaiInternet95]

^It was going to be a 3/6 original/IP split this year, but Conjuring-gate happened. Regardless, man it's great to be rid of TWD.

Edited August 21, 2017 by OhHaiInternet95

[Ringwraith]

2 minutes ago, OhHaiInternet95 said:

^It was going to be a 3/6 original/IP split this year, but Conjuring-gate happened

Very true, but then the scarezones may have looked a little different than they do now, to make up for that. I remember Mike stating that he likes to tip the scales back to even, in the streets if there are a lot of IPs in the houses.

[OhHaiInternet95]

So I assume this is the week?

[Miller]

 I could see them not doing this, but I wouldn't be surprised if this year is the last time we see American Horror Story until HHN 30. Both houses are mashups of three seasons, and they could be thinking AHS shouldn't overstay its welcome like Walking Dead.

[BenjaminNicholas]

The one thing we can always agree on here:  That TWD isn't coming back to Orlando.  I won't miss those craptactular houses in the least.

[Jediwhit82]

I personaly would be much more tolerant of AHS every year(as a normal size house) because each season is so different. 

[WESKER69]

1 hour ago, Ringwraith said:

 

To educate myself a little more, I wanted to dig a little deeper and find out of there were any trends to IP's vs Originals in any event year.

 

17 was when the IP's began and I think it was because we were cross pollinating with HHN in Hollywood. I don't know if we were trying something new by having an event with the New Line characters, but I personally don't think it worked all that well, after witnessing it first hand. It was kind of out of character(no pun intended) because most of the prior years had been original. It was almost as if we were trying to help save a struggling Hollywood HHN get back on its feet.

 

You clearly did not dig deep enough. 2007 was NOT the first year for IPs... They have always been part of the event in one form or another from the very beginning with Fright Nights. Even if it is Universal owned, it is still an IP (you can't discard it just because another studio owns it). Look at the logo for the first year of the event, it was the classic monsters! Even the event entertainment was about "known" (at the time) performers/bands/etc.

 

House-wise... "People Under The Stairs", "Psycho" (many times PRE-2006), "The Mummy", etc...

Character/Icon-wise... Classic Monsters, even the Crypt Keeper (TWICE), Chucky (PRE-2009), etc

 

Even the beloved originals, a lot of the times were loosely-based, inspired-by rip-offs of an IP. Even if a particular character wasn't advertised & used "officially" like they are now, they are still an IP character used at the event & NOT an original Universal Orlando creation.

 

As for 2007... it worked fine. What did NOT work well was NewLineCinema (they were completely merged with WB in 2008). NLC put so many restrictions on the event's use of the characters it completely screwed over A&D. There were things planned that didn't happen, things changed due to this/that. The event suffered for it in the streets (houses were on point though). And yes, they WERE trying something new-ish, that year. 2005 was the first true overall interwoven event. 2007 was supposed to do this, but with one central theme being the "Carnival of Carnage" as a park-wide SZ. Due to the issues with NLC, we didn't get this to its full potential. Hence why 2008 is regarding as being "OMGZ-worthy" because it did what 2005 did in IOA & what 2007 tried to pull off in the studios.

 

Save a struggling HHN Hollywood? Um... there was no struggling. The event was brought back in 2006 as a last minute thing (due to the success of Orlando 2001-2005), it was a success. They didn't need Orlando's help. Their event did just fine during 1997-2000. The ONLY thing Orlando has done for Hollywood over the years was make the higher-ups in their tower see that the event was worth bringing back to the park that started it all in 1986 with "The Terror Tram" (even after its unfortunate scareactor death).

[Midnight Detective]

I remember missing the first year HHN did the Walking Dead and being disappointed because I was really into the show at the time. I was pretty bummed because I knew it would be sometime before they ever did it again.

 

I've been wrong before but to be wrong x4 is a whole other level. This is why they say be careful what you wish for.

[DraculaTeeth]

19 minutes ago, Miller said:

 I could see them not doing this, but I wouldn't be surprised if this year is the last time we see American Horror Story until HHN 30. Both houses are mashups of three seasons, and they could be thinking AHS shouldn't overstay its welcome like Walking Dead.

 

While I don't know HHN's history in regards to politics, I agree with this simply because this upcoming season seems to be a bit political. I think in the end it would come to whether or not Universal believes having AHS Cult will sell them enough tickets to justify dealing with the potential headaches having a politically based house would cause.

 

So basically if this season is as political as it seems, I'd be surprised to see AHS Cult next year. 

[Oysterhead00]

1 hour ago, Ringwraith said:

28 Prediction: We will get one season at best of AHS, no Walking Dead, and no Purge. I wholeheartedly believe we're in for a 6/3 split next year when it comes to original vs IP and I think we'll be getting an icon. I really believe the mistakes from marketing will be scrutinized, they'll put a face to the event and that this year happened because they are honestly working on the greater picture and creating original content once again.

 

One year does not a trend make.  

 

6 things nobody heard of versus 3 is NOT a decision any company would make.

 

It would be like someone saying that the Beastie Boys were better as a punk band and being pissed they didn't go back to that from Rap.  It would be like Disney saying they don't want to rely on their cash cows and stop releasing Marvel and Starwars movies and instead release all original stand alone films.  NOT.  GONNA.  HAPPEN. 

 

Unless people stop going...and start giving all the IPs 1 star reviews and the originals 5 stars...and so on and so forth over a 5-10 year period.  A house is a 2-3 minute experience.  What are you going to get the most out of, something you have NO CLUE about about and have to figure out on the fly that can greatly change based on cast, timing, etc, etc, etc....or a familiar property based on a movie (or TV show) that you can step right in to and understand.  Universal's mission statement is basically to allow the park attendees to live the movies.

 

The saying is, "You can prove anything you want using statistics" and that's very true, but don't let a perceived trend overule common sense and a glaring certainty.  

Edited August 21, 2017 by Oysterhead00

[QueenoftheBunnies]

Does anyone happen to know the Houses of the Year for the past 10 years? I would be interested to see the ratio between IPs and originals. 

[WESKER69]

7 minutes ago, Oysterhead00 said:

 

 It would be like Disney saying they don't want to rely on their cash cows and stop releasing Marvel and Starwars movies and instead release all original stand alone films.  NOT.  GONNA.  HAPPEN.

"When you wish upon a (death)star".... totally off topic, but I'd love for some original standalone ANIMATED films... Good ones. And preferably NOT cgi-animation.

[Mark M.]

11 minutes ago, QueenoftheBunnies said:

Does anyone happen to know the Houses of the Year for the past 10 years? I would be interested to see the ratio between IPs and originals. 

 

This is on our homepage.  We have more than the forums.

 

http://www.horrornightnightmares.com/hhn-year-end-awards/

[QueenoftheBunnies]

Ok so, looks like IP vs. Original for house of the year comes out with Originals having more (in case anyone was wondering). I know this has been said before, as much as I love the original houses it would seem weird for Universal to NOT have houses based on IPs. Other theme parks can get away with 100% originals, but for a theme park that is already completely based around IPs, it would only make sense to have their Halloween event include IPs. 

[ForeverEvil1]

13 minutes ago, QueenoftheBunnies said:

Ok so, looks like IP vs. Original for house of the year comes out with Originals having more (in case anyone was wondering). I know this has been said before, as much as I love the original houses it would seem weird for Universal to NOT have houses based on IPs. Other theme parks can get away with 100% originals, but for a theme park that is already completely based around IPs, it would only make sense to have their Halloween event include IPs. 

 

It's to me why the "Universal needs to go back to what's made HHN popular back then" makes no sense. Why should they get rid of what's making the event popular now? We can talk bad marketing all we want, but all attendance numbers seem to suggest increases in attendance in the last few years. 

[Ringwraith]

51 minutes ago, WESKER69 said:

 

You clearly did not dig deep enough. 2007 was NOT the first year for IPs... They have always been part of the event in one form or another from the very beginning with Fright Nights. Even if it is Universal owned, it is still an IP (you can't discard it just because another studio owns it). Look at the logo for the first year of the event, it was the classic monsters! Even the event entertainment was about "known" (at the time) performers/bands/etc.

 

House-wise... "People Under The Stairs", "Psycho" (many times PRE-2006), "The Mummy", etc...

Character/Icon-wise... Classic Monsters, even the Crypt Keeper (TWICE), Chucky (PRE-2009), etc

 

Even the beloved originals, a lot of the times were loosely-based, inspired-by rip-offs of an IP. Even if a particular character wasn't advertised & used "officially" like they are now, they are still an IP character used at the event & NOT an original Universal Orlando creation.

 

As for 2007... it worked fine. What did NOT work well was NewLineCinema (they were completely merged with WB in 2008). NLC put so many restrictions on the event's use of the characters it completely screwed over A&D. There were things planned that didn't happen, things changed due to this/that. The event suffered for it in the streets (houses were on point though). And yes, they WERE trying something new-ish, that year. 2005 was the first true overall interwoven event. 2007 was supposed to do this, but with one central theme being the "Carnival of Carnage" as a park-wide SZ. Due to the issues with NLC, we didn't get this to its full potential. Hence why 2008 is regarding as being "OMGZ-worthy" because it did what 2005 did in IOA & what 2007 tried to pull off in the studios.

 

Save a struggling HHN Hollywood? Um... there was no struggling. The event was brought back in 2006 as a last minute thing (due to the success of Orlando 2001-2005), it was a success. They didn't need Orlando's help. Their event did just fine during 1997-2000. The ONLY thing Orlando has done for Hollywood over the years was make the higher-ups in their tower see that the event was worth bringing back to the park that started it all in 1986 with "The Terror Tram" (even after its unfortunate scareactor death).

 

Obviously we've had IP's since the beginning of the event because that's how the whole thing was started. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, but I was describing the point in time at which they starting to be used heavily and where, most likely, the "IP vs Original" discussion began.

 

Murdy himself, at a scareactor orientation, told us that HHN in Hollywood was struggling and that's why they got rid of it for awhile. He left the Orlando group to come to LA and revive it. So unless you're calling Murdy a liar(which is very possible), then that's what I'm banking on for my information.

54 minutes ago, Oysterhead00 said:

 

One year does not a trend make.  

 

6 things nobody heard of versus 3 is NOT a decision any company would make.

 

It would be like someone saying that the Beastie Boys were better as a punk band and being pissed they didn't go back to that from Rap.  It would be like Disney saying they don't want to rely on their cash cows and stop releasing Marvel and Starwars movies and instead release all original stand alone films.  NOT.  GONNA.  HAPPEN. 

 

Unless people stop going...and start giving all the IPs 1 star reviews and the originals 5 stars...and so on and so forth over a 5-10 year period.  A house is a 2-3 minute experience.  What are you going to get the most out of, something you have NO CLUE about about and have to figure out on the fly that can greatly change based on cast, timing, etc, etc, etc....or a familiar property based on a movie (or TV show) that you can step right in to and understand.  Universal's mission statement is basically to allow the park attendees to live the movies.

 

The saying is, "You can prove anything you want using statistics" and that's very true, but don't let a perceived trend overule common sense and a glaring certainty.  

They used to do 6 things or sometimes 7 things nobody has heard of to 0 or 1 thing and it worked just fine, earning them titles as best Halloween event in the country.

[b-wolf95]

6 hours ago, QueenoftheBunnies said:

Ok so, looks like IP vs. Original for house of the year comes out with Originals having more (in case anyone was wondering). I know this has been said before, as much as I love the original houses it would seem weird for Universal to NOT have houses based on IPs. Other theme parks can get away with 100% originals, but for a theme park that is already completely based around IPs, it would only make sense to have their Halloween event include IPs. 

 

Umm... some of those years didn't even have IPs, so just judging from all the past Houses of the Year is a bit unfair.

 

I think that a fairer assessment would be to only look at the years that emphasized the IPs (2007, 2009, 2012-16), since they're what started this discussion in the first place.

 

2007 - IP

2009 - IP (could make the argument that it's an original)

2012 - Original

2013 - IP

2014 - Tie

2015 - Original

2016 - IP

 

Counting it up, we've got 5-3 in favor of IPs (4-4 if you count Dracula: LoB as an original).  Admittedly, the IPs did have a numbers advantage for these years, but my point still stands: IPs can and have put out amazing houses.  

 

Also, overall house rankings might actually be better in this case.  Do we have those for the listed year?