London, Tuesday, 30 September 2025.
Paramount is accelerating its family-park licensing strategy in 2025 by striking partnerships with Merlin Entertainments and Parques Reunidos to deploy compact, IP-led family lands across Europe. The most immediate outcome: the UK’s first dedicated PAW Patrol land at Chessington, opening in 2026, while Parques Reunidos will roll Paramount-branded experiences across its park network beginning this year. For operators, these deals offer faster differentiation, new character-driven retail and F&B revenue, and seasonal programming to drive repeat visits. Operationally expect condensed design and installation timelines, higher throughput planning for preschool attractions, and stricter brand technical standards plus accessibility and sustainability requirements. Financial models favour lower upfront studio costs offset by royalties and marketing co-investment, creating scalable on-site revenue for partners. For retail leaders, the shift signals growing demand for tightly themed, IP-curated merchandise assortments, coordinated seasonal activations, and hotel/secondary-market tie-ins — all opportunities to lift per-capita spend and secure loyal family audiences.
What happened and why it matters
Paramount has doubled down on location-based licensing in 2025 by striking parallel partnerships with two major European operators: Merlin Entertainments to create the UK’s first dedicated PAW Patrol® land at Chessington World of Adventures Resort, and Parques Reunidos to roll Paramount-branded experiences across its park portfolio beginning this year [2][1]. For industry professionals, this represents a deliberate move to push entertainment studio IPs into compact, family-focused lands that can be deployed across an operator’s existing footprint to capture under-12 audiences and their caregivers [2][1].
Chessington’s PAW Patrol land: scope and positioning
Merlin has confirmed a PAW Patrol-themed land at Chessington opening in 2026 that will include four themed rides, themed guest accommodation and a customised retail offer — positioning the site as the UK’s first full PAW Patrol destination and a clear effort to broaden Merlin’s pre-school family appeal [2]. Merlin frames the development as part of a strategic IP-led expansion to bring premium brands to life across its resorts, a tactic that follows its recent global Minecraft partnership and broader family-targeting strategy [2][3].
Parques Reunidos: a networked roll-out across Europe
Parques Reunidos and Paramount announced a strategic partnership in April 2025 to develop immersive Paramount-branded experiences across the operator’s parks; early projects cited by the operator include a Nickelodeon area at Mirabilandia, Italy and an ‘A Quiet Place’ Halloween maze at Movie Park Germany as examples of the partnership’s initial investments and a signal of multi-park deployment ambitions [1]. The operator said the agreement will enable more agile launches of strategic projects and a long list of future investments across its estate [1].
Operational implications for park design and operations
Delivering compact, character-driven family lands and seasonal activations changes both project delivery and daily operations: design and installation timelines compress to fit into existing footprints, attractions require planning for high-frequency throughput appropriate to preschool audiences, and technical compliance with studio brand standards becomes a fixed part of project workstreams — all points explicitly referenced by the operators in their announcements about collaboration and creative integration [2][1]. Parques Reunidos also highlighted integration of accessibility and sustainability commitments within the partnership’s projects, indicating non-negotiable operational requirements beyond pure theming [1].
Commercial model: licensing, royalties and co-investment
Both announcements describe a licensing approach that balances operator investment in on-site theming with ongoing royalties and marketing co-investment from the studio — a model that allows studios to scale IP presence across third-party venues while enabling operators to monetise character-driven retail, F&B and seasonal programming [2][1]. Industry observers have noted that Paramount’s consumer-products and experiences group has been central to building large retail and licensing revenues, underscoring why studios pursue operator partnerships as on-site revenue engines [4].
Executive context and corporate reshaping
These licensing deals land amid notable leadership change at Paramount: two senior executives tied to licensing and consumer products — Pam Kaufman and Dan Cohen — exited Paramount in late September 2025, a personnel shift that commentators have linked to broader corporate reorganisation following the Skydance transaction and that may influence how the studio manages future partner relationships and licensing priorities [4][5]. Industry sources flagged Kaufman’s role in building Paramount’s global consumer-products business as relevant background to the studio’s current licensing momentum [4].
Retail, hotel tie‑ins and secondary-market opportunities
For retail leaders and resort planners, compact IP-curated lands create concentrated merchandising opportunities: bespoke product assortments, coordinated seasonal activations tied to content windows, and hotel or secondary-market tie-ins (branded rooms, in-park experiences, and themed F&B) that increase per-capita spend and drive repeat visitation. Merlin’s announcement explicitly includes customised retail and accommodation as part of the Chessington project, signalling operator intent to monetise IP across multiple revenue streams on-site [2].
Competitive and strategic ripple effects
The partnerships accelerate a consolidation of family IP into globally distributed, operator-led destination strategies: operators gain faster differentiation, studios scale branded experiences without heavy capital outlay, and the market may see accelerated master-plan prioritisation for family-focused lands and licensable hotel/retail extensions. Parques Reunidos framed the agreement as enabling more agile strategic projects across its portfolio, implying shifts in pipeline prioritisation and capital allocation across multi-park operators [1].
Uncertainties and what to watch next
Key open questions include the precise roll-out schedule beyond the announced Mirabilandia and Movie Park Germany activations, the commercial split of upfront theming versus ongoing royalties in specific deals, and how Paramount’s recent executive departures may change negotiation speed or creative control in future agreements [1][2][4][5][alert! ‘public statements so far announce partnership intent and initial projects but do not publish full commercial terms or a multi-year roll-out calendar’].
Bronnen