The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2017–2020
MAPS, Malaysia's RM520M animation park, shut 31 months after opening
Asia's first animation theme park opened in Ipoh in June 2017 at RM520M; attendance fell to ~200 a day, DreamWorks quit, and receivers closed it in 2020.
MAPS Perak · Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd · 2020-01
What happened
MAPS Perak opened in Ipoh on 26 June 2017, two years after its originally planned 2015 opening, billed as Asia's first fully animation-based theme park: more than 40 attractions across six zones built around DreamWorks, The Smurfs, BoBoiBoy and other characters. The RM520 million project was a joint venture between Perak Corporation Berhad and the Sanderson Group, operated through Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd.
The launch buzz — management claimed 50,000 visitors in the first month — faded fast; a Perak state assemblyman later reported daily attendance dropping as low as 200. Delays in the park's DreamWorks zone led DreamWorks Animation to terminate its licensing agreement, stripping the park of its anchor promise. Debts mounted, and on 4 December 2019 Affin Investment appointed Datuk Duar Tuan Kiat of Ernst & Young as receiver and manager over the operating company.
On 28 January 2020 MAPS closed 'until further notice', 31 months after opening. It never reopened: the company went into liquidation, and by 2024 demolition was under way on the park.
Why it happened
- The park was built for crowds Ipoh could not supply: RM520 million of construction against daily attendance in the hundreds.
- The anchor IP walked: DreamWorks terminated its licence after delays, taking the park's headline promise with it.
- State-linked capital prolonged the reckoning, but a receiver's notice ended it in a single day.
The lesson
MAPS bet RM520M that animation tourism would come to Ipoh; when daily crowds fell to a few hundred and DreamWorks pulled its licence, receivers closed the park within 31 months.
Aftermath
The company entered liquidation and demolition began by 2024. MAPS remains Malaysia's clearest case of theme-park oversupply.
Sources
- Malay Mail, 28 January 2020 — MAPS theme park in Perak closed until further notice (the RM520 million Movie Animation Park Studios closed from 28 January 2020 until further notice; closure notice issued by the Receiver and Manager Datuk Duar Tuan Kiat of Messrs Ernst & Young, appointed by Affin Investment on 4 December 2019 over operator Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd; park opened June 2017)
- Wikipedia — MAPS Perak (opened 26 June 2017 after originally planned 2015 opening; RM520 million joint venture of Perak Corporation Berhad and Sanderson Group; first fully animation-based theme park in Asia; 40+ attractions across six zones incl. DreamWorks Animation, The Smurfs, BoBoiBoy; management claimed up to 50,000 visitors in first month; state assemblyman reported daily attendance as low as 200; DreamWorks Animation terminated licensing agreement after DreamZone delays; closed 28 January 2020, under liquidator, demolition under way as of July 2024)
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