Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter has applied for permission to build a new attraction.
The film company submitted designs for a ‘Blackbox’ exhibit to Three Rivers District Council at the end of last week, which it hopes will keep the tour “fresh and exciting for new and returning visitors alike”.
The large 11-metre-high structure would look similar to the nearby studio buildings at the Leavesden facility, with steel doors and shutters and no windows.
According to planning documents, the building will house an “audio-visual attraction” which will present a short show to an audience.
Inside, it looks to be laid out similarly to a cinema or small theatre with both ground level and tiered seating. It would also have a stage with screens labelled ‘performance area’ and ‘back-of-house’ rooms.
Warner Bros. highlighted the studio tour’s economic benefits to the area, adding: “The proposed Blackbox will add another attraction to the studio tour’s long list of popular visitor amenities, helping to maintain its attractiveness, excellence in customer satisfaction ratings, and the length of time visitors stay, as well as creating demand for both new and repeat visits.”
The same application also seeks retrospective permission for a technical workshop next to where the Blackbox would be. It has been in place for “a number of years” and is used by staff to help maintain different parts of the tour.
Available to view via the council’s planning portal, the proposal is currently ‘pending consideration’.
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Earlier this year, Warner Bros. confirmed that it would be adding a totally new feature for the summer which will be in place on the tour from May 6 to September 8. It is unclear whether this relates to the Blackbox, which will be a permanent structure.
After opening its doors to visitors on March 31, 2012, the tour in Leavesden has been very well received with 96 per cent of the more than 46,000 reviews on Tripadvisor rating it as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ and more than 80,000 4- or 5-star ratings on Google Reviews.
The highly rated attraction offers visitors the ultimate chance to get up close to authentic sets to discover the magic behind spellbinding special effects and explore the behind-the-scenes secrets of the Harry Potter film series.
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