Major visual effects companies Cinesite and Image Engine are set to merge and will offer more than 525 artists between London, Montreal and Vancouver. Cinesite was set up in London in the mid-90s and its current projects include Ant-Man and new James Bond movie Spectre.
Upcoming fantasy epic The Great Wall features a cast led by Matt Damon and is the biggest US-China co-production ever made. Filmed on location in the Chinese city of Qingdao, the story posits that China’s Great Wall was in fact built to keep out fantastical monsters.
Lithuania and France have signed a co-production filming agreement, the first such deal for Lithuania. Shoots organised under the terms of the deal will qualify for national filming incentives in each country.
Post-production specialist Dragon in Bridgend, South Wales, is to be re-launched next month as a UK technology hub with a major investment from the Welsh government. Dragon has provided technical services on acclaimed films including Hunger and Submarine.
Nicole Kidman is filming a new Vogue photo shoot at the iconic Uluru – also referred to as Ayers Rock – in central Australia. Sydney is still the country’s main production hub, but films like San Andreas and Pirates of the Caribbean 5 have shot in Queensland.
Global exports from the UK’s creative industries rose by 34% between 2009 and 2013, according to new government figures. Television dramas like the BBC’s Sherlock and The Musketeers have been major international hits.
Pinewood Studios has reported a GBP 10 million revenue boost for the year ending 31 March 2015. The facility made GBP 75 million, compared to just over GBP 64 million the previous year. Operating profit increased by more than a million pounds to GBP 5.8 million.
Two film companies in Canberra have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with producers in China that will see more Chinese movies being filmed in the Australian capital. Canberra has had recent international success with slick political TV drama The Code.