It’s only been a few months since Universal Studios Florida officially announced the Bourne Stuntacular. The long-rumored, live action stunt show is set to premiere sometime in spring 2020. For many, it can’t come soon enough.
The Orlando theme parks are suffering from a dearth of high octane live entertainment. While there are plenty of amazing shows featuring world class singing, dancing, and live music, few give live action thrills.
Universal shuttered its only live action stunt show, Eighth Voyage of Sinbad, in 2018. It had been the longest running show of its kind in Orlando history. While fan reviews panned the campy acting and low energy fight scenes, the explosions always received high praise. The official reason for the closure was high production costs.
Now Universal is hoping to recapture the thrills with the Bourne Stuntacular. Centering the show around the Bourne movies is a no brainer. The franchise is wildly popular, grossing over $1.5 billion USD worldwide. A new installment will reportedly start filming next year and a television spin off called Treadstrone started airing on USA Network this fall. So far reviews of the series are overwhelmingly positive.
There’s plenty of evidence that park goers want it, too. Many Universal guests wait with cameras at the ready to watch a faux dragon spit fire in Diagon Alley at Universal Studios. It lasts all of two seconds and the perched beast doesn’t even move, but the feeling of heat from the flames and the high decibel roar certainly excites the crowd below. Rides like Revenge of the Mummy and Escape from Gringotts, both of which supply real, albeit brief, pyrotechnics, are also popular. But all of these attractions lack one thing, a human element.
Disney knows it, too.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is in the process of revamping their Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. This fan favorite has been around for 20 years and is still going strong. Disney is scrapping the plot of a behind the scenes look at filming a stunt scene to make it a straight up action scene.
By the end of 2020 Orlando will go from having no live action stunt shows to two high caliber offerings. Two of the biggest film franchises in cinema history will supply the inspiration. The Bourne Stuntacular is scheduled to open in spring of 2020 in the Beverly Hills section of the park across from the Brown Derby. It will occupy the theater used in the T2-3D: Battle Across Time, a movie attraction that closed in 2012. It featured actors that interacted with characters on a screen. The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular likely won’t reopen until 2021, a date that coincides with the release of the fifth Indy movie.