The Genting Group has pushed back the opening of its 20th Century Fox World theme park near Kuala Lumpur to 2017, citing weak local currency as the reason for the delay.
Genting Malaysia, a subsidiary of the Genting conglomerate, is developing the RM1bn (US$239m, €209m, £155m) park as part of the RM5bn (US$1.18bn, €1.03bn, £771m) redevelopment of the Genting Highlands resort.
Originally, scheduled to open at the end of 2016, Genting Malaysia is reviewing the project’s budget following a sharp depreciation of the Malaysian ringgit, which has dropped around 20 per cent against the US dollar so far this year. An initial investment of US$300m was touted, but that would now be equivalent to RM1.26bn, a significant increase of around US$61m (€53.3m, £39.6m).
Plans for the 101,000sq m (1,087,155sq ft) park included 25 movie-inspired rides, representing characters and stories from Fox properties, such as
Ice Age,
Rio,
Predator and
Night at the Museum. Experiences will include a mix of media-based rides, thrill rides, dark rides, children’s rides and water rides. There will be also be associated shops and themed outlets.