- May 30th, 2005, 11:16 pm
#12312
I'm not sure about that date, but that sounds close. I've heard something along those lines before.
The Hanna-Barbera rights have gone through several hands over the years, including the previous owners of the Paramount parks (Taft) and later the owners of Six Flags - Warner Brothers, which had bought Turner Broadcasting which had acquired the HB license from Taft :blink:. They of course merged with AOL and then sold the parks off to Premier. This is why you see Scooby rides in both chains.
When Taft sold off the rights, they probably grandfathered the use of the HB license at the Taft / KECO theme parks for a certain period of time. 2012 could be the end of that deal, although it's certainly possible that Paramount could try to secure a new deal with WB or whoever owns those rights now - I'm 99% sure it's WB. I think that Six Flags also has these and the WB characters under a similar deal, from when WB sold the parks to Premier.
I have a feeling that had a lot to do with the disappearance of Animation Station as we knew it. Sometime down the road all the Paramount parks may need to ditch the HB theming due to not having the license, and we were the test project for going totally Nick. They probably didn't want to wait until the last minute and do every park at the same time, and probably wanted to see the reaction to the new branding in case they wanted to try to renew the HB licensing.
My guess is they'll try to keep Scooby Doo at the parks by getting a new license on that, but will dump all the other HB stuff in the other parks in the next year or two. It'd be a shame to lose the Scooby theme on their dark rides, as it's a perfect fit - but I'm sure they'll have some Nick property to throw in there if something can't be worked out. I have an odd feeling WB will gladly take Paramount's cash, though.
KenB
