Rumor: 'Jason Bourne' Stunt Show Could Replace Universal Orlando's Former 'Terminator 2' 3D Attraction
Universal Orlando's Terminator 2 3D attraction closed back in 2017 "to make way for an all-new live action experience based on a high-energy Universal franchise." Rumors swirled for months that it might be replaced by a Jason Bourne stunt show, and now those rumors have a bit of new life thanks to Jim Hill, a prominent theme park blogger who recently revealed a bit more information about Universal's one-time plan for the new stunt show.
We've known about this Bourne rumor for quite some time – we actually mentioned it briefly last August – but after hearing this pop up again, we realized we've never devoted the proper amount of real estate to it here on the site. Here's what we know so far.
On a recent podcast episode, Jim Hill (an expert who often has good theme park scoops) explained how Comcast, Universal's parent company, wants more of the studio's own intellectual property to be incorporated into Universal resorts.
"So that's why, when they were looking at possible themes for this attraction, they of course looked at Universal Pictures' Jason Bourne series. Over the past seventeen years, there's been five films and the worldwide combined box office of these things is $1.6 billion...billion is the magic number...if you're an IP that has sold over a billion dollars of tickets worldwide, you are now going to become a theme park attraction."
Later in the episode, Hill indicated that Universal's plan – at least at one point – was for Bourne star Matt Damon to be involved with this attraction in some capacity:
"The assumption was, 'OK, sometime in the next two to three years, Matt Damon is going to be in front of a camera, and will be able to – as they're shooting this film – they'll be able to grab footage that we can use for our new Bourne attraction for Universal Studios Florida.' Or at least, that's how it was explained to me...but that was two and a half years ago."
Universal has made no mention of making a new Bourne movie since Jason Bourne pulled in $415 million at the worldwide box office in 2016, but Treadstone – a new USA Network television series about the shady government black ops organization – will premiere this year. Would Universal actually go as far as to base an entire attraction on a show that could end up being cancelled after one season? That seems like too much of a risk, so while we don't actually know the inner workings of what they have in store, it's more likely that the attraction would focus on the general idea of black ops, spies, and sleeper agents rather than leaning heavily on references to this new show.
My guess? They'll back up a dump truck of cash on Damon's lawn and at least have him record some sort of cell phone footage video that could be fed onto monitors while guests are waiting in line for the ride. Damon is so closely associated with the Bourne franchise that not having him involved at all would feel cheap, so I'm guessing they'll do whatever it takes to make his face a part of the show.