The mega Hollywood-style studio project, first mooted by the Western Province in 2002 with Dreamworld confirmed as the preferred bidder in February 2004, seems finally set to become a reality. On Wednesday 23 January the City of Cape Town approved R30-million in terms of the provision of bulk infrastructure for the Dreamworld Film City.
In August 2006 a Dreamworld launch bash was held at the proposed mega studio site near Faure in Cape Town. The launch was attended by amongst others the Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, Minister for Environmental, Planning and Economic Development, Tasneem Essop and Helen Zille in her capacity as Executive Mayor. Construction on the project was set to begin in January 2007 with the studios anticipated to be operable by early 2008. There was no movement however in the development of the studio project till this week’s announcement by the City of Cape Town.
According to Simon Grindrod of the Independent Democrats and a member of the mayoral committee for economic development and tourism, his department spearheaded efforts to make available the city’s R30-million contribution.
“This project represents the single biggest opportunity to secure billions of rands more income for the city in terms of film production and associated industries,” he said. “The Cape Town film industry is estimated to be worth R20-billion.”
The Dreamworld consortium comprises filmmaker Anant Singh from Videovision Entertainment, Marcel Golding, CEO e.tv, and a local empowerment component that includes Phuti Tsukudu and the Helderberg African Chamber of Commerce.
