July 24, 2026
Lotte World Adventure in Seoul opens Kong x Godzilla: The Ride today, an 11-minute multimedia dark ride developed with Sally Dark Rides that puts the Monsterverse into a theme park for the first time. Guests board paired eight-passenger Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicles as MONARCH recruits, descending into Hollow Earth through a research facility themed as MONARCH Outpost M-42, where a volcanic event sets the Titans loose and Kong guides the mission toward a confrontation involving Godzilla. Sally’s build combines large-scale animatronics, media screens, and motion-base vehicles across the run, with a preshow, mission briefing, photo zone, and merchandise shop wrapping the experience.
It is the first location-based attraction for Legendary Entertainment, whose Monsterverse has grossed more than $2.5 billion across five films, with a sixth, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, arriving in March 2027 and the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters in its second season. “It was a big priority for me when I joined Legendary nine years ago,” James Ngo, Legendary’s executive VP of franchise management, told Variety. “These types of deals take a long time to do, and construction also takes a long time as a process, so I immediately started trying to get Legendary into the space.”
The Marquee Bet
Lotte World is mid-renovation, and the company has made the Legendary IP the centerpiece of the work. “This is going to be Lotte’s biggest investment as a ride in the park,” Ngo told Variety. “It’s not just a ride, it’s going to be the marquee ride of the park and really the main attraction for everything.” The recruitment framing starts in the queue: “From the moment guests come to line up, they are being recruited to join Monarch,” Ngo said.
For the attractions industry, the notable pieces are the partners. Sally Dark Rides, the Jacksonville dark-ride specialist, lands the flagship build for a major Seoul park, and a film studio at what its franchise chief calls the apex of its media slate chose an existing urban park’s renovation, rather than a ground-up venue, as its entry into location-based entertainment. Timed to a 2027 tentpole film, the ride gives Lotte a marquee anchor and gives Legendary a proof point in the market week one.
