Fig.1 Artist’s impression of TOP PARK, angle 1
Beijing, China [21st October 2023] - Max-Matching Entertainments, one of the largest investors, developers, and operators of location-based entertainment in China with rapid expansion across Asia, today announces Asia’s largest international IP themed Family Entertainment Centers (FEC) cluster, Top Park.
The Top Park collaboration builds on Max-Matching Entertainments’ successful relationship with international IP partners Hasbro, Mattel, Crayola, and WildBrain. Max-Matching Entertainments has reached the master license exclusive LBE partnership agreement with Crayola in China. Recently, Max-Matching Entertainments has also announced the new deals with WildBrain, which include new IP themed FECs and themed retail, food and beverage outlets in premium locations in the Guangdong province. Furthermore, in collaboration with Hasbro, Max-Matching Entertainments will soon announce a PEPPA PIG outdoor theme park.
Fig.2
Top Park, a 70,000 square-meter development, will open in 2026. It is in a brand-new family entertainment complex north of Universal Beijing Resort in vibrant Tongzhou District,
“Top Park is a new IP-themed FEC integrated complex which is in line with Beijing’s focus to develop itself as a national cultural center and serving the overall development of the cultural, tourism, and creative industries. At Max-Matching Entertainments, we are committed to collaborate with world-famous and world-class IP brands, major developers, and government stakeholders to create family destinations with immersive designs and experiences that bring joy and adventure, stimulate imagination and learning, and produce engaging and lasting memories for guests of every age across China,” shared Owen Zhao, President of Max-Matching Entertainments.
Fig.3 Artist’s impression of TOP PARK, angle 2
Top Park will house 5 themed FECs with a themed hotel, featuring IPs from 4 global groups with Crayola’s first family entertainment experience in Asia. Guests will be excited to know Hasbro will launch the world premiere of PEPPA PIG themed ice and snow world, in addition to the Hasbro FEC, featuring MY LITTLE PONY, NERF, and POTATO HEAD at Top Park.
>Mattel FEC will create themed entertainment spaces for Barbie™, Thomas & Friends™, Hot Wheels™, and Fisher-Price™.
The Crayola Experience will introduce new colorful adventures to help kids and adults alike explore art and technology, and to express their creativity and experience color in a whole new way.
WildBrain will deliver for Chinese guests the imaginative worlds of Peanuts, Teletubbies, and In the Night Garden.
China's themed location-based entertainment market is experiencing an unprecedented boom. China is the world’s second largest theme park market, the Chinese market is estimated to be more than double in size from RMB40 billion (about USD5.48 billion) in 2019, to over RMB90 billion (about USD12.33 billion) by the end of 2025, according to McKinsey [1].
At the press conference, the senior executives of the 4 partnering IP groups expressed their enthusiasm on China’s family-friendly market with a strong tourism and residential draw to bring innovative, never-before-seen experience of their beloved brands to new audiences.
Natalie Chan, Head of Hasbro Location-based Entertainments Asia Pacific, congratulated the initiative: “We are looking forward to the successful establishment of Top Park. With Hasbro’s beloved IPs, Top Park will create for children, families and fans distinctive entertainment experience.”
Ivan Franco, Mattel VP and General Manager, Greater China and Korea, expressed their delight for this unique collaboration at Top Park: “This great collaboration with Max-Matching Entertainments will bring our globally recognized brands to children and families in China. We are thrilled to bring our iconic brands to life through exciting brand themed experiences at the new Family Entertainment Center located in Top Park.”
Andy Pence, Crayola VP Location-Based Entertainment & Retail, shared: “This strategic collaboration with Max-Matching Entertainments as our exclusive Location-Based Entertainment licensee in China will see a historical lineup of many one-of-its kind imagination-inspiring activities.” He continues: “We look forward to getting settled in Top Park, this mega indoor international IP complex project. We are honored to be part of a project that blends color, creativity and education within entertainment, and that will provide children with a unique and colorful learning experience and contribute to their growth and development.”
Maarten Weck, Managing Director & EVP of WildBrain CPLG, WildBrain’s global licensing agency, expressed their optimism towards Chinese LBE market: “In future, WildBrain will continue to deepen its efforts in the IP industry and cooperate with Max-Matching Entertainments and other top entertainment companies in China and abroad, in joined forces to create world-class cultural and tourism products.”
“There has been a growing demand for high-quality leisure and entertainment experiences and destinations by families and young travelers within the country as domestic travel continues to increase after the pandemic. FECs thus have gained popularity with a strong momentum for further growth. At Max-Matching Entertainments, we are committed to our partnership with Mattel, Hasbro, WildBrain, Crayola, Aardman and more, to innovate, create and bring remarkable world-class IP experiences to a new level through our current and many more upcoming FEC projects across China,” said Owen Zhao.
About Max-Matching Entertainments
Max-Matching Entertainments Co., Ltd. is a leading developer, investor, and operator of location-based entertainment in China with rapid expansion across Asia. The company has successfully curated and organized various international IP themed projects in China and the United States, providing integrated solutions across themed retail and F&B, theme parks, Family Entertainment Centers (FEC), and pop-up visitor experiences in partnership with international IPs, government stakeholders and real estate groups. Max-Matching Entertainments has been spearheading the creation of international IP visitor experiences featuring Hasbro, Mattel, WildBrain, Aardman, Crayola, and other well-known IPs. Max-Matching Entertainments is committed to supporting brands and clients with integrated solutions best suited for each market - combining world-class entertainment brands and local market insights and expertise.
Hasbro is a leading toy and game company whose mission is to entertain and connect generations of fans through the wonder of storytelling and exhilaration of play. Hasbro delivers engaging brand experiences for global audiences through toys, consumer products, gaming and entertainment, with a portfolio of iconic brands including MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, Hasbro Gaming, NERF, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH and PEPPA PIG, as well as premier partner brands.
Hasbro is guided by our Purpose to create joy and community for all people around the world, one game, one toy, one story at a time. For more than a decade, Hasbro has been consistently recognized for its corporate citizenship, including being named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media, one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute and one of the 50 Most Community-Minded Companies in the U.S. by the Civic 50. For more information, visit https://corporate.hasbro.com.
Mattel is a leading global toy company and owner of one of the strongest portfolios of children’s and family entertainment franchises in the world. Mattel creates innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain, and develop children through play, and engages consumers through iconic brands including Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, American Girl®, Thomas & Friends®, UNO®, Masters of the Universe®, Monster High® and MEGA®, as well as other popular intellectual properties owned and licensed in partnership with global entertainment companies.
Crayola LLC, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, is the worldwide leader in children's creative expression products. Known for the iconic Crayola crayon first introduced in 1903, the Crayola brand has grown into a portfolio of innovative art tools, crafting activities, creativity toys, and now colorful experiences and content that offer all generations innovative new ways to use color to create everything imaginable. For more information visit https://www.crayola.cn/ or join the conversation at https://weibo.com/1870163021
At WildBrain we inspire imaginations to run wild, engaging kids and families everywhere with great content and beloved brands. With approximately 13,000 half-hours of filmed entertainment in our library—one of the world’s most extensive—we are home to such treasured franchises as Peanuts, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Inspector Gadget and Degrassi. Our integrated, in-house capabilities spanning production, distribution and licensing set us apart as a unique independent player in the industry, managing IP across its entire lifecycle, from concept to content to consumer products.
At our state-of-the-art animation studio in Vancouver, we produce award-winning, fan-favourite series, such as The Snoopy Show; Snoopy in Space; Sonic Prime; Chip and Potato; Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City; Carmen Sandiego; Go, Dog. Go! and many more. Enjoyed in more than 150 countries and on over 500 streaming platforms and telecasters, our content is everywhere kids and families view entertainment. WildBrain Spark, our AVOD network, has garnered over 1 trillion minutes of watch time on YouTube, offering one of the largest selections of kids’ content on that platform. Our leading consumer-products and location-based entertainment agency, WildBrain CPLG, represents our owned and partner properties in every major territory worldwide. Our television group owns and operates some of Canada’s most-viewed family entertainment channels.
The characters of Peanuts and related intellectual property are owned by Peanuts Worldwide, which is 41% owned by WildBrain Ltd., 39% owned by Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and 20% owned by the family of Charles M. Schulz, who first introduced the world to Peanuts in 1950, when the comic strip debuted in seven newspapers. Since then, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang have made an indelible mark on popular culture. In addition to enjoying beloved Peanuts shows and specials on Apple TV+, fans of all ages celebrate the Peanuts brand worldwide through thousands of consumer products, as well as amusement park attractions, cultural events, social media, and comic strips available in all formats, from traditional to digital. In 2018, Peanuts partnered with NASA on a multi-year Space Act Agreement designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students.
[1] McKinsey (2022), ‘ China’s theme parks face a new era’