ORLANDO, Florida -- This is the year to be at Universal Orlando. The Florida theme park is honoring Universal Studios' 100th anniversary by rolling out their biggest year of new attractions and events, and yesterday they debuted their new nighttime show and parade at a special premiere gathering.
MTV News was on hand at the event, and caught up with some of the main people behind making the new shows happen. Mike Aiello was the director behind Universal's new nighttime presentation, Universal's Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Memories. The 18-minute-long show takes place on the Universal Studios park's lagoon and uses cutting-edge fountain and Syncrolite technologies to project 200 movies from Universal's 100 years onto water screens located in the middle of the lagoon.
"It was really all about trying to capture what you feel when you're sitting in a theater watching a movie. How you would get immersed in that film. You're sitting in a theater, but you're sort of transported somewhere else," Aiello said. "To be able to create a show that recognizes the vast library of all the films they've made is a dream come true."
Other than the big logo change, Universal didn't really have any sort of celebration planned to honor its big centennial. Universal Orlando Senior Vice President of Entertainment Jim Timon said that he felt like this was the best way to honor the studio's big year.
"It's such obviously a big anniversary for the company, but how to bring those huge important films to our guests and audience in a way that was larger than life, this format and seeing these films 30 feet high by 30 feet wide with pyrotechnics and special effects lighting and all kinds of great toys, that took a while to figure it out. We took about two years trying to get that right," he said.
The development process was fun for those involved because they got to go through Universal's 100 years of movie history to pick out and honor their favorite films. For Aiello, it was classics like "E.T." as well as cult favorites like "Shaun of the Dead" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" that he wanted to see projected on the water screen. Timon was happy to see "Gladiator," "U-571" and "Schindler's List" be showcased.
The show was separated into four sections: 100 Years of Heroes, 100 Years of Laughter, 100 Years of Good vs. Evil and 100 Years of Triumph. Everything from "Children of Men" and "8 Mile" to "The Breakfast Club" and "Animal House" to "The Mummy" and "Apollo 13" were projected, but the movies that Universal seemed to be the most proud of were the classics: "E.T.," "Jaws," "Frankenstein," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Psycho." They were the movies that kept appearing on the water screens, and they were the ones that people seemed to respond best to.
There also are some new scenes from upcoming Universal movies "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Battleship." Timon said the show is designed so that new Universal hits can be added into it as the years go on.
"And that's the cool thing about the show. As movies come out that really resonate with the audience, we'll be able to continually update the show as we see fit," Aiello added.
Aiello has been working for Universal for 16 years and, as he said, it's "really, really been a part of my life." The joy of making this show for him was being able to honor all of the films Universal has created, from the ones that everyone recognizes to the ones that people might not even realize were made by Universal.
"I think there's something for everybody in the show, and something that will make everybody want to see more, and that's cool," Timon said.
The nighttime show is narrated by Morgan Freeman, a creative decision that really brings the show together, according to Aiello.
"I wrote the first draft before we knew who was talking, and then they told me who was going to be narrating, and I said, 'Okay, I need to rewrite this, because this is not good enough for Morgan Freeman,'" Aiello said with a laugh. "There's something about his voice that is just warm. You want to hear him talk. And that was definitely what we wanted to have for our show."
There also is the Universal Superstar Parade, which is the first daily parade Universal Orlando has ever had (though they do have seasonal parades that will continue to run). Lora Wallace was the show director in charge of bringing the parade to life, and she chose classic Universal characters like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Gru and the Minions from "Despicable Me" and Hop from "Hop" as its superstars.
"We definitely wanted to put the Universal 'Hop' and 'Despicable Me' in there. That's a part of us we wanted to celebrate with the 100 years," she said. "It was perfect to have it open at this time."
Between these two new shows, the reopening of the redone "Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man," the grand opening of the Hollywood Drive-In Golf Course at CityWalk, the updated Blue Man Group show and the upcoming opening of the Despicable Me ride, Universal Orlando really is trying to have this year be the biggest in the theme park's history. Besides, do you really need an excuse beyond the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to go visit?
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