October 11, 1999
Oklahoma City, OK -- Premier Parks Inc. announced last Wednesday that it has entered into a license agreement with Warner Bros., allowing Premier exclusive rights to use the Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, and DC Comics Characters at the companies theme parks in Europe, Latin and South America.
The license agreement will also give Premier Parks the right to develop additional Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Parks in Europe, Latin and South America.
Premier also entered into an agreement to purchase the Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Park in Germany and signed an agreement to enter into a partnership with Warner Bros. to manage the new Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Park scheduled to open in Madrid, Spain in 2002.
"This is an enormous opportunity for our Company," noted Kieran E. Burke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Premier. "We are delighted to expand our excellent relationship with Warner Bros. This transaction positions us to more rapidly achieve our goal of becoming the dominant theme park operator in the world."
"We are very pleased to expand our successful theme park partnership with Premier Parks, the leading regional theme park operator in the world. It enables us to further grow in the global theme park industry, while showcasing our characters and intellectual properties on an even larger scale," said Barry Meyer, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros.
Premier anticipates that the agreement with Warner Bros. will have a significant impact on the performance of its international theme parks.
"As we have experienced in our domestic parks, the impact of the characters will be profound--increasing per capita spending as well as helping to drive higher attendance. We continue to experience robust operating performance at our domestic and international parks this season", said Burke.
During the past season Premier has seen impressive growth at its four U.S. theme parks recently branded with the Six Flags name. Those parks, which also began using the Warner Bros. characters, have seen a 22% increase in attendance and a 31% growth in park revenues this year. The performance at these parks shows how valuable the international license is.
Premier plans to initially introduce the licensed Warner Bros. characters in existing European parks and at Reino Aventura, a theme park in Mexico City, which will soon be converted to the Six Flags brand.