Comcast has announced the second location for Universal Horror Unleashed, the new year-round entertainment experience that’s basically a permanent Halloween Horror Nights, before the first has even opened! This post shares details about the new HHN-like attraction–plus our commentary about viability, comparison to DisneyQuest, and more.
The second location for Universal Horror Unleashed will be an indoor venue in Chicago, chosen for its large population and reputation as one of the country’s leading destinations for tourism & entertainment. The upcoming venue will be located on Chicago Avenue at the former Tribune Distribution Center, situated between the River North and West Town districts.
Horror Unleashed will mark Universal’s first branded experience in the Midwest. Expanding the Universal Horror Unleashed brand, the company’s immersive horror entertainment experience, is reportedly a key pillar of Universal’s broader growth strategy to reach new audiences, in new markets, through new and original concepts.
“Universal Horror Unleashed delivers on our promise to create highly immersive and terrifying horror experiences that connect with fans year-round,” said Page Thompson, President, New Ventures, Universal Destinations & Experiences.
“We’re excited to bring this bold concept to life in Chicago, a city known for its vibrant culture. We’re grateful for the city’s 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.”
“We’re thrilled to welcome Universal Horror Unleashed to the City of Chicago,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement to NBC 5 Chicago. “This is exactly the kind of creative, high-impact investment we’re working to attract—one that brings new life to a vacant site, creates hundreds of jobs, and cements Chicago as a must-visit destination for entertainment tourism.”
According to the city, the experience is expected to generate more than $1 billion in economic impact for the city, along with more than 400 permanent jobs, including scareactors, make-up artists, prosthetic artists and more.
“Universal’s decision to make such a significant investment in Illinois is a testament to the state’s unmatched entertainment sector, renowned workforce and strong infrastructure,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement.
“Universal choosing Illinois didn’t happen by accident—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.”
Construction on Universal Horror Unleashed is expected to begin in early 2026, according to the City of Chicago, following design finalization and permitting. The Midwestern outpost of Universal Horror Unleashed is slated to open in 2027. Here’s concept art released by Comcast for Universal Horror Unleashed in Chicago:
Horror Unleashed combines Universal’s expertise in the horror genre with next-level storytelling to deliver a memorable guest experience. The year-round concept will deliver immersive, horror-centric entertainment that goes beyond the theme parks, bringing unique environments and scares to guests. The horror will also extend to the food and beverage offerings, with themed craft cocktails and bites, as well as a retail location with unique collectible merchandise and more.
The announcement comes on the heels of other key developments for Universal Destinations & Experiences, including the recent opening of Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort, the first Universal Horror Unleashed Las Vegas that opens in August 2025, the 2026 launch of Universal Kids Resort in Frisco, Texas, and plans for a new theme park and resort in the United Kingdom — Universal’s first in Europe, slated to open in 2031.
The first Universal Horror Unleashed location was announced in January 2023 and is set to open later this year in Las Vegas on August 14, 2025. Tickets for Universal Horror Unleashed Las Vegas are now on sale now at UniversalHorrorUnleashed.com.
Our Commentary
It’s surprising and reassuring that Universal is already greenlighting a sequel to Horror Unleashed even before the Las Vegas location has opened. This suggests a high degree of confidence in the project, like when a television show gets picked up for its next season before the previous one has even debuted. That makes me, as a viewer, more inclined to watch as I know it’s likely to be good (and guaranteed not to end on an unresolved cliffhanger–but that’s not really relevant here).
Tickets for Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas went on sale back in mid-February, so the company would have several months of sales data to support this decision. Still, these things don’t happen overnight, so the Universal Horror Unleashed location in Chicago has probably been in the works since at least around that time.
One entirely realistic possibility is that Universal always intended upon opening multiple locations of Horror Unleashed, and that they’re necessary (or at least desired) to dilute development costs. I’m somewhat skeptical of that explanation. This isn’t like Jollywood Nights or some other single-site event that benefits from that type of scaling. I’d hazard a guess that the biggest costs here are the physical venue and operating costs.
Given how well the Halloween Horror Nights brand travels, I actually wouldn’t be surprised if there’s only a little overlap between the concepts in the Las Vegas location and the Chicago one. Enticing the diehard fans to visit both branches might outweigh the savings in cloning the concept. I don’t really know, though–I don’t purport to be an expert on this.
I mention all of this because it’s not a foregone conclusion that Universal Horror Unleashed is going to be a success. It’s easy to look at ticket prices for the Las Vegas location and conclude that Universal is going to make a ton of money; it’s just as easy to conclude that they need those prices to cover costs, and it’s going to be hard to maintain that momentum.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Chicago is more or less viable of a location than Las Vegas. On the one hand, there is not the same steady stream of tourists and convention cliente. On the other hand, there’s a lot less competition for entertainment eyeballs and dollars. This is not to say Chicago is lacking for things to do. To the contrary, it’s one of America’s few “real” cities, and there are a lot of options.
Frankly, I wish this option existed back when we were in college. Instead, we saw a lot of Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls games (not the Bears–too expensive and I hate the Bears). We also went to Second City frequently, museums occasionally, and ate often (the two major food groups–Portillo’s and pizza).
If this existed then, we would’ve added Universal Horror Unleashed to the regular rotation. I’m sure a lot of other people our age would’ve done likewise, as would tourists to the city. Chicago also does a lot of convention business, but this is really far from McCormick Place.
It’s worth pointing out that Disney tried a regional park concept in Chicago…and failed miserably. In addition to Walt Disney World, there was a DisneyQuest in Chicago and it was short-lived, closing in 2001 (pre-9/11) after only being open a couple years. Unlike the Walt Disney World location, that was not terribly dated at its demise. The timeline is also eerily similar, with Disney greenlighting the second DisneyQuest before the first had even opened.
Chicago has also seen a ton of amusement parks and themed venues (restaurants and experiences) come and close over the years. As much as I love Chicago, I’m not sure if it’s the place I’d target for a tourist-dependent and pricey destination like this. Other major Midwestern cities a bit farther to the south, or even New York, seem like superior choices. But then again, I’m just a dude with a blog who can write whatever.
Presumably, Universal has actual professionals who do feasibility studies and other analysis to determine the viability of a location; they probably ruled out the alternatives and arrived on Chicago for good reason (hopefully not just a tax incentive). It’s also probably fair to say that Disney did the same with DisneyQuest, as did the countless companies that have shuttered their own themed entertainment venues in Chicagoland over the years.
It’s not just DisneyQuest that struggled. Even highly-regarded regional parks and entertainment experiences have struggled, and it’s an infamously difficult market to crack. It still pains me that I never got to do Star Trek: The Experience. The Void was a lot of fun, widely praised, and had great locations…until it went belly-up.
Critical darling Meow Wolf enjoys a cult following, but it’s reportedly slashing staff. Area15 cancelled its plans for an Orlando outpost. It’s been radio silence from Level99 at Walt Disney World since that announcement, which doesn’t necessarily mean anything (third party projects don’t get the same breathless updates as Disney-owned ones), but it is slightly concerning in light of the foregoing.
My fear is that there was a lot of frothiness about the viability of regional parks and entertainment experience coming out of COVID, and several companies mistook pent-up demand for the new normal. As the United States now settles into what actual demand looks like for travel and leisure, there might be further contraction of the market for such experiences. Here’s hoping we’re wrong about that, though.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see the long-term demand for Universal Horror Unleashed. With the steady stream of tourists, conventioneers and students, there’s probably the market for this type of thing in Chicago. The demographics probably aren’t as favorable as in Las Vegas, but the competition also isn’t as fierce.
There’s also the reality that Universal Horror Unleashed is not cheap by experiential entertainment standards. Sure, it’ll be cheaper than seeing Caleb Williams flop and Ben Johnson prove he’s not Mr. Galaxy Brain, but it won’t be less expensive than Second City or countless other options in Chicago. (Did I mention that I hate the Bears?!)
Regardless, Universal Horror Unleashed is yet another example of Universal doing something new and ambitious as it looks to grow its footprint in the attractions industry. While plenty of concepts like this have failed over the years, hopefully this is not one of them. Both the Universal and Halloween Horror Nights brands are incredibly powerful, and the latter should travel well outside of Hollywood and Orlando.
My hope is that Universal swings for the fences with this and shakes up its HHN formula. But honestly, I’ll be pretty satisfied even with a more permanent and high-budget version of Halloween Horror Nights. Some of the recent houses that have clearly had “Netflix money” have been phenomenal from a themed design perspective, and I look forward to seeing what Universal Creative can do when given the resources.
Even if you couldn’t care less about Universal Horror Unleashed (and I know that’s many of you), we should all be cheering for it to work out. If this or the kiddie park in Texas end up being smash successes, that will almost certainly result in Disney taking a fresh look at the regional park or entertainment concept. It’s unlikely we’ll see DisneyQuest 2.0 or Disney’s America, but we could finally get something in the Midwest or Northeast or Heartland!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Universal Horror Unleashed coming to Chicago? Are you excited for this permanent horror attraction in the Midwest? Think this will be a success–similar to Halloween Horror Nights? Would you like to see Universal Creative push the envelope with this, or stick to the tried and true formula of HHN, but with better polish? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
