Showrunner and director John Marks remembers the first time he stepped into the Epic Universe. It was late October 2024, six months before the theme park opened to the public. “It was fascinating,” he says. That’s exactly the feeling he wanted to convey to viewers when he was approached to film Peacock’s three-part series “Epic Rides: The Story of Universal’s Theme Parks.” The series follows the construction of the theme park over a six-month period leading up to its opening date on May 22, 2025.
Marks knew he didn’t want to make a commercial. The theme park, which opened last May, was the first major theme park to debut in the United States in nearly 25 years (Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999). Public excitement was high, but behind the scenes, those six months were full of challenges as everyone raced to meet the opening day deadline. “It was a ticking clock, and at the end of 2024, that clock was ticking loudly,” Marks recalls.
The series begins with “The Build” and delves into the history of Universal Studios theme parks. Subsequent episodes will focus on the construction of the park, weaving in its history and how Universal Pictures’ films tie into the attraction. Some of the key talking heads include Vin Diesel, Bryce Dallas Howard, Universal Chairman Donna Langley, and Steven Spielberg. For Marks, it was about finding the right voice to fit the “accordion” of storytelling. Diesel, whose “Fast and Furious” series is Universal’s biggest production, was an obvious choice. It was a natural fit for Spielberg, a longtime Universal collaborator. Marks explains, “Spielberg came to the park from the movie world. He’s been a partner going back to the first ‘Jaws’ ride in the 1970s.”
Marks wanted to look beyond the celebrities and focus on the creative minds behind the park’s construction. He was joined by technical engineers, vehicle designers, and costume artists to tell their stories. “They were able to speak to what it’s like to create something that so many people experience and respond to emotionally. All of these creative artists faced incredible challenges.”
When Marks walked the grounds of Epic Universe in October of that year, he brought cinematographer Philipp Friesenbichler with him. “I wanted him to come because I felt like he would see work that people would want to see,” Marks says. “Even though it was still in production, I had never been to a place that was so vast and so creatively detailed. I had never seen anything like it on camera, so I knew the cinematographer would see the same thing.”
“What was beautiful was something completely mundane: people in construction helmets walking around the most incredible roller coaster I’d ever seen. As dusk set and the lights came on, surrounded by mud, I thought, ‘I want people to feel what I’m feeling right now.'” That captivating emotion became the north star of his storytelling. “Seeing a place like this is special. If you’re impressed, you might want to come and see it for yourself.”
Marks added, “We felt the emotions of the people in the park who are building this, from the highest level executives to the ride engineers who inspect the roller coasters. There was tremendous emotion in all of this. If we can capture that emotion, we can tap into the emotions of the audience and feel why people spend years building these parks. Hopefully, that will move people and make them want to come and see it all in person.”
As it nears its first anniversary, Epic Universe has proven to be a huge success. The park, which is rumored to have cost $7.7 billion to build, involved thousands of people who helped bring the 750 acres to life.
Will Marks be doing a follow-up? He hasn’t been asked yet, but he admitted the documentary was “quite a bit of work.” Still, he reminds viewers that the Epic Universe is a world of immersive storytelling. “These places that tell these stories are stories in themselves.”
