Sally Corporation’s Justice League: Battle for Metropolis receives THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement

By | December 11, 2018

Sally Corporation’s dark ride project for Six Flags Entertainment Corporation was awarded the prestigious Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement.  Given by the Themed Entertainment Association, it’s one of the industry’s greatest honors representing some of the finest achievements in the creation of compelling places and experiences.  Already an industry award-winner, the mixed-media ride took home IAAPA’s Best New Product and the Impact Award in 2015, from rides at Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis.  The seventh iteration, at Six Flags Magic Mountain is accepting the Thea award in April. 

Designed and built by dark ride specialists, Sally Corporation, JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle For Metropolis is a story-driven adventure for guests of all ages.  The state-of-the-art dark ride blends dimensional and animated sets, animatronics, 3D video, special effects, projection mapping, laser stun-blasters, interactive targets, a scoring system, a musical score and more aboard custom motion-based vehicles.  The ride now operates at seven Six Flags parks in the United States and Mexico.

Justice League bridges the gap between a classic dark ride and thrill ride, making it a perfect fit for the Six Flags franchise aiming to satisfy their family demographic. The TEA Thea Awards Committee wrote, “Narrative-based, full immersion storytelling is an impressive new direction within a park system better known for iron rides – while staying true to the Six Flags brand.”

“We are thrilled and humbled to receive this amazing recognition,” said Six Flags Magic Mountain Park President Neal Thurman. “JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis has been a game-changer for our Company. Known the world over for our record-breaking roller coasters, this thrilling, dark ride introduced a completely new level of innovation with the most sophisticated technology available. The response from guests and industry experts alike has been nothing short of spectacular and we look forward to accepting the TEA Thea award in Anaheim next spring.”

John Wood, Chairman & CEO of Sally Corporation, concludes: “Winning a Thea Award for Magic Mountain’s Justice League Battle for Metropolis is amongst the highest honors an attraction producer like Sally Corporation can receive. We are delighted that Six Flags Corporation is recognized for its bold move into the themed entertainment arena with such an advanced and highly acclaimed dark ride attraction. Being recognized by your peer professionals for this great achievement makes it all that more special!”

From hundreds of nominations received, the Awards Committee deliberated at length to produce the annual slate of recipients, which was then submitted to the TEA International Board of Directors for approval.  While the TEA Thea Awards recipients are announced each November, they are formally awarded the following spring where nearly 1,000 entertainment professionals converge on the Los Angeles area for the elegant TEA Thea Awards Gala.

“We invite our community to join us in Anaheim April 11-13, 2019 to celebrate these achievements at the annual TEA Summit and Thea Case Studies. The biggest weekend on our industry calendar will be that much more special in 2019 as we commemorate a quarter-century since the Thea Awards began.”

“Sally Corporation is pleased, honored and humbled to know that our new, JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis dark ride will be joining past THEA Award recipients who we respect and admire.  This all started 5 years ago as a promise Sally Corp made to Six Flags to bring world-class storytelling experiences to their guests.  We are overjoyed to see that the industry we love so much feels that we delivered on that promise.  We like to think that moving forward, the seven JUSTICE LEAGUE dark rides we designed and built for the Six Flags chain will set a new bar for the level of quality, excitement and just plain FUN a regional park can offer in a family attraction.  This all wouldn’t have been achievable without the super-hero team of artists, engineers and technicians Sally enlisted to complete this monumental mission.  Congratulations to everyone who helped bring this over-the-top theme park attraction to life!” – Rich Hill, Lead Designer of JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis | Creative Director for Sally Corporation.