Amazon MGM Studios mother or father Amazon’s Amazon Prime Video is buying the Bray Movie Studios in Water Oakley, Berkshire, 26 miles from central London, the studio advanced the place its The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy shot its second season. Different productions which were shot at Bray embrace the likes of Rocketman, Mamma Mia! Right here We Go Once more, Angel Has Fallen, The King’s Man, Amazon collection Citadel, BBC present Dracula, and BBC collection Bodyguard.
“The acquisition consists of roughly 53,600 sq. toes of soundstage area throughout 5 levels, 77,400 sq. toes of workshops, 39,400 sq. toes of workplace, 182,900 sq. toes of backlot, and 156,000 sq. toes of parking area,” Amazon mentioned on Monday. “Bray has beforehand supported Amazon MGM Studios productions with sound levels, workplaces, and manufacturing services, beginning in January 2022, when it grew to become the manufacturing dwelling for the second season of the worldwide hit Prime Video collection The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy.”
Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, additionally touted the deal. “With Bray as our inventive dwelling within the U.Okay., we’re dedicated to deepening {our relationships} with the U.Okay. inventive neighborhood, which is wealthy with world-class storytellers and artistic expertise of every kind,” he mentioned. “The acquisition of a studio with such a storied heritage not solely empowers us to supply extra movie and tv within the U.Okay., but in addition unveils a wealth of alternatives in the local people with respect to jobs and expertise coaching in any respect ranges of the manufacturing course of.”
Amazon MGM Studios plans to supply each new and persevering with TV collection and have movies on the studio website.
The primary Amazon MGM Studios manufacturing to be situated at Bray following the acquisition would be the second season of the Russo Brothers’ spy collection Citadel, starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, which is scheduled to start filming in September.
Monetary phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“Bray Movie Studios is situated on the financial institution of the River Thames,” the studio facility’s web site says. “With an 18th-century former English nation home at its coronary heart, the studios have supplied inventive area for among the best expertise in movie and music. Ridley Scott constructed and shot the miniatures for his Academy Award-winning sci-fi thriller Alien on the studios in 1978, and some years earlier than the cult traditional The Rocky Horror Image Present was delivered to life right here.”
Bray is often known as the house of British horror specialist Hammer Movies, which moved on-site in 1951 and have become recognized for tasks with the likes of Christopher Lee and such motion pictures as The Mummy, The Curse of Frankenstein, and Terence Fisher’s Dracula. “Controversial with critics on the time, Hammer delighted audiences with a recent aesthetic of gruesomeness, created by the pioneering particular results that Hammer honed throughout its tenure at Bray Movie Studios,” the studio advanced’s web site highlights. “The Hammer aesthetic was the direct results of the distinctive website at Bray, which was chosen particularly for its Georgian property, Down Place. Crew and technicians lived on-site throughout productions, creating the primary ‘house-style’ studio and fostering a heat and artistic on-set neighborhood that many award-winning administrators, producers, and actors got here to like.”
Frank Burke, chairman of Bray Movie Studios, the earlier proprietor of the positioning, mentioned concerning the sale to Amazon. “For 70-plus years, Bray Studios has held an necessary place within the historical past of British filmmaking. Throughout our interval of possession, I, along with my household and group have witnessed the rebirth of this iconic facility.”
The Amazon U.Okay. studio deal additionally acquired the blessing from the brand new Labour authorities within the nation. “From Rocketman to The Rocky Horror Image Present, for 70 years Bray Studios has introduced us a few of cinema’s most iconic moments. We’re decided to assist the massive potential for financial development in our inventive industries,” mentioned U.Okay. Tradition Secretary Lisa Nandy. “This vote of confidence by Amazon MGM Studios will be certain that certainly one of our main movie studios continues to play an important function in our first-class display screen industries. It’ll ship a significant funding in expertise and infrastructure to reinforce our standing as Europe’s prime filmmaking vacation spot.”