While progress on the construction of South Africa’s Hollywood-style film studios, the Cape Town Film Studios project, slowly continues, comes the news that Britain’s Pinewood Shepperton Studios has cut back on its $400m expansion plan. This expansion would have doubled the size of the facility.
The official reason given for the cutback was not, as one might expect, financial, but related to the local community concerns about the massive expansion. Now only 32% of the land, instead of 100%, will be used in a smaller-scale expansion, which will still include permanent outdoor sets.
Pinewood Shepperton already has 34 sound studios and 10 TV studios. Before it merged with Shepperton in 2001, Pinewood was the traditional home of the James Bond movies. Recent major productions to go through Pinewood Shepperton include the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, and The Dark Knight. (Source: Bucks Free Press, Studio Briefing)
