'Netflix House' opens first theme park spanning 10,000 square meters

(Patria) - After years of temporary pop-up events, streaming giant Netflix is entering the theme park space for the first time this week, competing with entertainment giants Disney and Universal Studios. The company's theme park 'Netflix House' will open its doors on Wednesday at the King of Prussia mall - one of the largest shopping malls in the United States, in the Philadelphia suburbs, Pennsylvania - spanning over 10,000 square meters.

The theme park, which will offer free admission, plans to feature a wide range of restaurants and activities, all designed to evoke some of the platform's most popular series and films, including 'Bridgerton', 'Stranger Things', 'Squid Game', and 'KPop Demon Hunters'.

Marian Lee, Netflix's Chief Marketing Officer, said the company decided against charging admission because "we wanted that accessibility. We want to be an everyday destination".

"As we were doing these pop-up experiences, it became clear that we would actually have more
flexibility if we had a permanent location," she said in an interview with AFP.

Additional 'Netflix House' locations will open in the near future. One of them, in Dallas, Texas, is expected to open on December 11, and a third on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada by 2027.

"Las Vegas is a very different space. It's not inside a mall, but it's on the Strip... and so we'll program it a little differently there," Lee said.

While Lee did not discuss the construction costs of these theme parks, she said, "you'll see that it's a huge capital investment for the company to invest in both the space and all the finishes and the build-out of everything."

For now, Lee said there are no plans to build 'Netflix House' internationally.

"We would have to think about that in a different way," she said.