Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company

The Sudden Impact!
Entertainment Company
Industry Theatrical attractions and shows
Founded 1991
Founder(s) Lynton V. Harris
Headquarters New York, USA
Key people Lynton V. Harris (Chairman & CEO)
Dominic McChesney (Assistant Director)[1][2][3]
Ben Rotundo (Assistant Director)[3]
Website Official website

The Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company is an entertainment company based in New York, United States. The company has created temporary and permanent scare attractions for amusement parks and traveling carnivals across the globe.

Contents

History

The Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company was founded in 1991 by Lynton V. Harris.[4] Harris was born in Australia and began his career as a DJ at age 15.[4][5] From there he worked up the ranks to be marketing director for 10 Australian radio stations.[4] In 1991, he travelled to the United States and discovered the money that could be made in entertainment attractions. Harris started the Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company with an aim of operating attractions at Madison Square Gardens in New York. In 1996, the company began a four year season of Madison SCARE Gardens selling approximately 250,000 tickets.[4][5]

In the early 2000s, the company was ready to open their attractions in Washington, however, due to the September 11 attacks and the Beltway sniper attacks (in 2001 and 2002 respectively), these plans were shelved costing the company and Harris millions.[4][6][7] Sudden Impact began to focus on attractions in Australia with the opening of several temporary attractions at amusement parks and traveling carnivals.[4][8][9][10] In 2009, the company began to deviate from the standard scare attractions with the opening of themed indoor laser skirmish games such as AVPX at Dreamworld.[11][12][13][14]

Attractions

Name Location Opened Closed Notes
Angoscia Dreamworld Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia December 26, 2006 (2006-12-26) July 7, 2007 (2007-07-07) [8][9]
AVPX Dreamworld Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia April 10, 2009 (2009-04-10) Still open [11]
Chamber Live: Serial Killers Madame Tussauds London Central London, England Unknown Unknown [15][16]
Chamber of Horrors Live Madame Tussauds London Central London, England Early 2003 (2003) Unknown [15]
Freakshow in 3D Thorpe Park Surrey, England October 2002 (2002-10) Unknown [15]
Freddy's Nightmare maze Warner Bros. Movie World Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia October 8, 2010 (2010-10-08) October 31, 2010 (2010-10-31) [17]
The Freezer Dreamworld Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia December 26, 2006 (2006-12-26) July 7, 2007 (2007-07-07) [8][9]
Thorpe Park Surrey, England October 2002 (2002-10) Unknown [15]
Madison Square Garden New York, USA Unknown Unknown [18]
The Fright House Unknown USA Unknown Unknown [15]
Gotham Underground Madison Square Garden New York, USA 1997 (1997) 1997 (1997) [19]
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Enter the Tomb Dreamworld Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia December 26, 2003 (2003-12-26) April 18, 2004 (2004-04-18) [10]
Luna Park Melbourne St. Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria 2007 (2007) Unknown [20][21]
Royal Adelaide Show Adelaide, South Australia, Australia September 3, 2010 (2010-09-03) September 11, 2009 (2009-09-11) [12]
The Mummy Live Madison Square Garden New York, USA Unknown Unknown [18]
The Mummy Returns Dreamworld Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia June 23, 2001 (2001-06-23) July 8, 2001 (2001-07-08) [4]
Universal Studios Hollywood Los Angeles County, California, USA 2002 (2002) 2004 (2004) [22]
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Live Dreamworld Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia September 8, 2008 (2008-09-08) January 2009 (2009-01) [23]
La Ronde Montreal, Quebec, Canada June 19, 2009 (2009-06-19) September 7, 2009 (2009-09-07) [22][24][25][26][27][28]
Night at the Museum Live Sunway Lagoon Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Unknown Still open [2][22][29][30]
Pirate Jack's Halloween Adventure Chessington World of Adventures London, England October 2002 (2002-10) Unknown [15]
Prison Break Live Luna Park Melbourne St. Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria 2006 (2006) Unknown [20]
Luna Park Sydney Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2008 (2008) Unknown [31]
Royal Adelaide Show Adelaide, South Australia, Australia September 5, 2009 (2009-09-05) September 13, 2009 (2009-09-13) [32]
Sunway Lagoon Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Unknown Unknown [3]
Psycho 3D maze Warner Bros. Movie World Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia October 8, 2010 (2010-10-08) October 31, 2011 (2011-10-31) [17][33]
Rumah Hantu 3D Sunway Lagoon Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Unknown Unknown [3]
SAW maze Warner Bros. Movie World Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia October 8, 2010 (2010-10-08) October 31, 2011 (2011-10-31) [17][33]
Thorpe Park Surrey, England October 2002 (2002-10) Still open [18]
Six Flags Great America Gurnee, Illinois, USA Unknown Unknown [34]
The Scorpion King Live Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown [22]
Scream Madame Tussauds Shanghai Unknown Unknown Unknown [15]
Amsterdam Unknown Unknown Unknown [16]
Terminator Alive Sunway Lagoon Petaling Jaya, Malaysia May 2010 (2010-05) Still open [13][14][30]
Terminator X: A Laser Battle for Salvation Adventure World Perth, Western Australia, Australia December 26, 2009 (2009-12-26) January 31, 2010 (2010-01-31) [35]
La Ronde Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2010 (2010) Still open [22][26][27]
Royal Adelaide Show Adelaide, South Australia, Australia September 4, 2009 (2009-09-04) September 12, 2009 (2009-09-12) [32]
Six Flags Mexico Mexico City, Mexico 2011 (2011) Still open [36]
Sunway Lagoon Petaling Jaya, Malaysia May 2010 (2010-05) Still open [13][14]
Terror in the Towers Alton Towers Staffordshire, England October 2002 (2002-10) Unknown [15]
Terror Tunnel Sunway Lagoon Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Unknown Unknown [3]
Tomb Raider Legend Live Adventure World Perth, Western Australia, Australia December 26, 2006 (2006-12-26) January 29, 2007 (2007-01-29) [37]
Universal Studios Monsters Alive Unknown Las Vegas, USA Unknown Unknown [22]
Van Helsing Universal Studios Hollywood Los Angeles County, California, USA 2004 (2004) 2007 (2007) [22]
Van Helsing Experience Live Six Flags Mexico Mexico City, Mexico 2009 (2009) Still open [38][39]
Warwick Ghosts Alive Warwick Castle Warwickshire, England 2002 (2002) 2008 (2008) [15][16]
Zombie Apocalypse maze Warner Bros. Movie World Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia October 1, 2011 (2011-10-01) October 31, 2011 (2011-10-31) [33]
Wet'n'Wild Hawaii Kapolei, Hawaii, USA 2010 (2010) 2010 (2010)

Shows

Scare School

Almost all of Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company's attractions feature live trained actors, commonly known as "scare actors". To be hired in this position, scare actors must complete the Scare School program. The Scare School is a 40-hour program where actors are trained to become the best "scarers" they can be. The Scare School has travelled the globe and has been featured in its own television series. The majority of the training is done in broad daylight with very little done indoors or at night-time.[1][2][4][5][9][18][25][34][40]

References

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External links