Paramount Pictures unveils plan for $3.2B London theme park

Paramount Park is planning a new U.K. theme park that will feature attractions based on films, such as "Mission Impossible," "Titanic," "Star Trek," "Sponge Bob Square Pants" and "Transformers." (AP)

A deal for a new British theme park, said to rival Disneyland Paris, has been inked with Paramount Pictures that will feature attractions from the company's films such as "Mission: Impossible," "Star Trek" and "Paranormal Activity."

The  planned $3.2 billion dollar theme park outside of London in North Kent will feature Europe’s largest indoor water park, theaters, live music venues, attractions, cinemas, restaurants, event space and hotels.

The Paramount park is expected to heavily feature themes based on other major Paramount titles, including "Titanic," "Star Trek," "Indiana Jones," "Tomb Raider," and children’s favorites such as "Sponge Bob Square Pants and "Transformers."

The park will be just 20 minutes from London and two hours from Paris by rail. If plans go ahead as planned, the complex will be twice the size of Olympic Park in East London, said the LA Times.

Tony Sefton, project leader for the development company London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH), told The UK Daily Mail they hope to have the park open by 2018.  "We are at the start of a long journey, but have been encouraged by the support and buy-in we have had to date. We are particularly pleased with the appetite we are seeing from investors, who consider this a compelling investment proposition."

The agreement is just one of several that the studio has struck lately. Another Paramount theme park is set to open in Murcia, Spain, in 2015 and company chiefs predict it will draw in three million visitors to the area every year.

If all goes according to plan, the London park could be seen as a threat to Disneyland Paris as the most popular tourist destination in Europe.