{"id":17072,"date":"2025-06-26T19:24:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T19:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/17072\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T19:24:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T19:24:14","slug":"universal-horror-unleashed-to-open-in-chicago-with-haunted-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/17072\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal Horror Unleashed to Open in Chicago with Haunted Houses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNBCUniversal<\/a> is planning a second year-round horror destination for the Second City.<\/p>\n

\n\tUniversal Destinations & Experiences will open a location of its new concept called Universal Horror Unleashed in Chicago, Illinois, targeting a 2027 debut.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new location will be located across the street from the forthcoming Bally\u2019s Casino, in a 114,000-square-foot commercial building at 700 W. Chicago Avenue, directly on the river (the building used to be owned by the Chicago Tribune). The company will receive a tax credit from the state of Illinois, which has an estimated value of more than $7.2 million, according to public filings, and is targeting 210 full-time jobs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe company is planning to open its first Universal Horror Unleashed location in Las Vegas later this year, with experiences based on The Exorcist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe locations are based on Universal\u2019s successful Halloween Horror Nights in Florida and California, which feature elaborate haunted houses and mazes. The smaller year-round concepts will feature the immersive mazes and scares that visitors to the parks know, as well as food and beverage concepts and retail. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUniversal Horror Unleashed delivers on our promise to create highly immersive and terrifying horror experiences that connect with fans year-round,\u201d says Page Thompson, president of new ventures for Universal Destinations & Experiences. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to bring this bold concept to life in Chicago, a city known for its vibrant culture.\u00a0We\u2019re grateful for the city and state\u2019s support as we convert this dormant site into a unique attraction that showcases our storytelling expertise and ability to deliver mind blowing experiences that shatter guest expectations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to Horror Unleashed, Universal plans to open a smaller kids and family-focused theme park in Texas next year, and in May opened its third major theme park in Orlando, Epic Universe<\/a>. All of the concepts speak to a significant investment in experiential entertainment for the company.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to welcome Universal Horror Unleashed to the City of Chicago,\u201d said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in a statement. \u201cThis is exactly the kind of creative, high-impact investment we\u2019re working to attract\u2014one that brings new life to a vacant site, creates hundreds of jobs, and cements Chicago as a must-visit destination for entertainment tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUniversal\u2019s decision to make such a significant investment in Illinois is a testament to the state\u2019s unmatched entertainment sector, renowned workforce and strong infrastructure,\u201d added Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. \u201cUniversal choosing Illinois didn\u2019t happen by accident \u2013 we were proud to support this project through our EDGE incentive program, which has helped fortify a positive business climate that draws world-class companies to the state. I look forward to seeing this iconic brand come to life along the Chicago River as it creates hundreds of jobs and generates more than $1 billion in economic impact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBCUniversal is planning a second year-round horror destination for the Second City. Universal Destinations & Experiences will open…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,16629],"class_list":{"0":"post-17072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois","11":"tag-nbcuniversal"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114751305393211235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}