The Giant - a mammoth moving attraction and exhibition - is coming to a city near you following the announcement of a number of sites worldwide by the operator’s CEO and founder, Paddy Dunning.
Pitched as “the visitor attraction for the 21st Century” and standing more than 10 storeys tall, The Giant has the ability to take the form of any person on the planet thanks to a skin made out of LED pixels, with the impressive figure housed on top of a 10,000sq ft (929sq m) exhibition space.
Inside the exhibition space, visitors will be taken on an immersive state of the art journey into the world of giants from the realms of legend and mythology to a celebration of the men and women of the city and country it’s located in. From there, they can climb an elevator to “stand on the shoulders of giants” and get a view from the very top of the giant statue of the surroundings.
Announced at this year’s IAAPA Expo Europe, The Giant Company will build Giants around the world, with the attraction coming to New York, Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas in the US, with further projects in London, UK; Vienna, Austria; and Naples, Italy. Contracts have also been signed for to-be confirmed locations in South Korea and South America.
“When we launched the Giant project, we were sending a message out to the world,” Dunning, tells Planet Attractions.
“We're here to establish partners and we're looking for sites all around the world to build this iconic statue and this iconic project. When we made the announcement, we got this flood of partners and potential partners and cities, councillors and people from the attractions industry that came to us and said 'come to our city - we'd love to build a giant.
“From those invitations, we've selected a few of those to announce today.”
With plans for giants to come up all over the world, these first ones will set the tone for what’s to come with the awe-inspiring structure.
“It’s worldwide and that’s what gives it its strength,” says Dunning. “The more cities it goes into, the more of a global village it can create and we can establish special events right across the globe.”
First unveiled as a concept in 2015, as plans have advanced to build the first Giants, so has the technology that allows them to be created, meaning a more advanced technology but also a greener project. One of the key features of the giant, will be the ability to scan visitors and project their image onto The Giant, recreating a giant version of them for all the world to see.
“It took us years to patent the whole scanning system process, which is linked to the statue, so we're patented all around the world,” says Dunning.
“That took some years and in that time frame, the technology got easier and even cheaper and more efficient in relation to power consumption.
“We've also been able to integrate solar panels into the structure and into the roof of the visitor attraction, so this is fully sustainable in terms of creating its own power from renewables to power the giant.”
So where will the first Giant attraction appear?
“We're starting the planning process in all these cities so we've launched the planning application and then it's a race,” says Dunning. “Who will get through first? We're going to call that ‘The Giant Race’, to find, who is going to be the first on the planet to build the biggest moving statue in the world.”
If all goes according to plan, the first Giant attraction should be ready to open by the second quarter of 2024. Once open, in addition to having their own image projected onto the Giant, visitors will also be able to record a message, which will be projected out, as though the Giant itself is talking.
“You can send a message out to the planet, out to your loved ones,” says Dunning. “It can be anything - a happy birthday, a will you marry me? As long as it’s positive, we’ll record that message and throw it out to the universe.
And what would Dunning send out as his first message?
“I think I’d throw a thank you to all the people that have supported the giant project, the community that have come together to help build the giant,” he says. “My family and friends and most of all, the giant community that we’re building every day to help save this planet.”
The Giant - a mammoth moving attraction and exhibition - is coming to a city near you following the announcement of a number of sites worldwide by the operator’s CEO and founder, Paddy Dunning.
Pitched as “the visitor attraction for the 21st Century” and standing more than 10 storeys tall, The Giant has the ability to take the form of any person on the planet thanks to a skin made out of LED pixels, with the impressive figure housed on top of a 10,000sq ft (929sq m) exhibition space.
Inside the exhibition space, visitors will be taken on an immersive state of the art journey into the world of giants from the realms of legend and mythology to a celebration of the men and women of the city and country it’s located in. From there, they can climb an elevator to “stand on the shoulders of giants” and get a view from the very top of the giant statue of the surroundings.
Announced at this year’s IAAPA Expo Europe, The Giant Company will build Giants around the world, with the attraction coming to New York, Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas in the US, with further projects in London, UK; Vienna, Austria; and Naples, Italy. Contracts have also been signed for to-be confirmed locations in South Korea and South America.
“When we launched the Giant project, we were sending a message out to the world,” Dunning, tells Planet Attractions.
“We're here to establish partners and we're looking for sites all around the world to build this iconic statue and this iconic project. When we made the announcement, we got this flood of partners and potential partners and cities, councillors and people from the attractions industry that came to us and said 'come to our city - we'd love to build a giant.
“From those invitations, we've selected a few of those to announce today.”
With plans for giants to come up all over the world, these first ones will set the tone for what’s to come with the awe-inspiring structure.
“It’s worldwide and that’s what gives it its strength,” says Dunning. “The more cities it goes into, the more of a global village it can create and we can establish special events right across the globe.”
First unveiled as a concept in 2015, as plans have advanced to build the first Giants, so has the technology that allows them to be created, meaning a more advanced technology but also a greener project. One of the key features of the giant, will be the ability to scan visitors and project their image onto The Giant, recreating a giant version of them for all the world to see.
“It took us years to patent the whole scanning system process, which is linked to the statue, so we're patented all around the world,” says Dunning.
“That took some years and in that time frame, the technology got easier and even cheaper and more efficient in relation to power consumption.
“We've also been able to integrate solar panels into the structure and into the roof of the visitor attraction, so this is fully sustainable in terms of creating its own power from renewables to power the giant.”
So where will the first Giant attraction appear?
“We're starting the planning process in all these cities so we've launched the planning application and then it's a race,” says Dunning. “Who will get through first? We're going to call that ‘The Giant Race’, to find, who is going to be the first on the planet to build the biggest moving statue in the world.”
If all goes according to plan, the first Giant attraction should be ready to open by the second quarter of 2024. Once open, in addition to having their own image projected onto the Giant, visitors will also be able to record a message, which will be projected out, as though the Giant itself is talking.
“You can send a message out to the planet, out to your loved ones,” says Dunning. “It can be anything - a happy birthday, a will you marry me? As long as it’s positive, we’ll record that message and throw it out to the universe.
And what would Dunning send out as his first message?
“I think I’d throw a thank you to all the people that have supported the giant project, the community that have come together to help build the giant,” he says. “My family and friends and most of all, the giant community that we’re building every day to help save this planet.”
