An Osaka-based investment firm said last Thursday it will cooperate with an affiliate of U.S. movie company Paramount Pictures Corp. to develop a theme park named Paramount Resort Osaka in Suita, Osaka Prefecture.

The theme park, including entertainment facilities and a five-star hotel, will be built on the site of the failed Expoland amusement park, Sun Capital Management Corp. said.

The companies are now working out details and inviting investment for the plan, it said.

Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto welcomed the plan the same day as "the possible core of Osaka's entertainment city initiative." Hashimoto unveiled an outline of the theme park scheme last December.

The Commemorative Organization for the Japan World Exposition '70, a public corporation that owns the Expoland site, said it has received no notice about the plan. The prefecture already has the Universal Studios Japan theme park, which opened in the city of Osaka in 2001.