Construction Starts on Harry Potter Attraction in Tokyo

Mark Schilling
·2 min read

Construction has officially started on the Harry Potter attraction planned for the site of the now closed Toshimaen amusement park in Western Tokyo. Opening of the 30,000 square meter park, called the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter, is set for the first half of 2023.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, Warner Bros. Japan and Seibu Railway, the owner of the site, are partnering on the construction. Seibu has also sold part of the 22-hectare Toshimaen site to the Tokyo metropolitan government, which will use it for emergency evacuations.

More from Variety

The attraction, which the Studio Tour Tokyo site is careful to describe as a “walking tour” and “not a theme park,” will feature a replica sound stage and backlot outdoor area from the “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” film series. The intent is to give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the films. It will be similar to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, which opened in 2012 and pre-pandemic was welcoming up to 6,000 visitors a day.

The Toshimaen park, with the exception of its hot-spring spa, closed on August 31 of last year.
Another park, based on the work of anime maestro Miyazaki Hayao, is being built in the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park not far from the city of Nagoya in central Japan. The ground-breaking ceremony was held on July 28 of 2020. Three of the park’s five planned areas are set to open in the fall of 2022 and the remaining two by the end of March 2024. Visitor numbers are expected to total 1.8 million annually.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.