14/09/2006

Great news for the historical Pinewood Studios, celebrating it’s 70th anniversary this year, and its sister company Shepperton Studios, the largest studio facilities in the UK since their merger in 2001. After a tough 2005 and a general downturn of film production activity in the UK due to uncertainties over UK film tax policy, the group said yesterday during a press conference announcing its interim results that film turnover had increased by almost 36% and that big production companies (i.e., Hollywood studios) were back in the UK.

During the first semester of 2006 (which ended on June 30), Pinewood Shepperton’s film revenues were £9.9m (£7.3m), benefiting from a number of film productions, such as the new James Bond Casino Royale; Matthew Vaughn’s Stardust, starring Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer under the Paramount banner; Joe Wright’s Atonement, starring Keira Knightley, produced by Working Title; and Universal’s Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

However, as stressed by Pinewood Shepperton, film activities are still rather slow from smaller production companies, who often have to forego the film production tax benefit to finance their films. The studios are optimistic, though, and believe that “as understanding of the new UK film tax relief improves, smaller films will begin to benefit from the improved levels of relief”.

The outlook is therefore very positive for the studios, with an increase in film activity set for the second half of 2006 and major film productions scheduled to shoot, including Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, produced by Warner Bros/Dreamworks, and Universal Pictures’ The Bourne Ultimatum, reuniting director Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon.

Major upgrading and refurbishment will continue at Pinewood (including the reconstruction of the 007 stages destroyed by a fire last July), TV production facilities Teddington Studios (acquired last year) and, in particular, at Shepperton Studios, thanks to a new joint venture signed with Morley Fund Management, providing the studios with a £30.5m line of credit to restructure the company’s borrowings and finance the expansion of the studios.