The town of Hisayama, Fukuoka Prefecture, said Friday it has asked U.S. movie company Paramount Pictures to build a theme park there.
The Hisayama town government said a Fukuoka-based company and Paramount, which produced "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut," are in talks on the deal.
The new theme park would be even bigger than Universal Studios Japan, a Hollywood movie theme park that opened in Osaka in March 2001, municipal government officials said.
According to the officials, 60 hectares of forest near the Fukuoka interchange on the Kyushu highway have been earmarked as the likely site of the park.
The officials said Hisayama was selected as a possible site because it neighbors the prefectural capital of Fukuoka and is near the highway.
A man-made island off Fukuoka City was also put forward as a possible location, but its high land prices make it less likely to be chosen, they said.
Plans call for the theme park to be established and operated by a joint stock corporation.
Hisayama Mayor Katsushige Saeki told a meeting of town assembly members that the theme park would have significant economic benefits.