Twenty-one international films dominated UK production spending in the first half of this year, according to a report from the British Film Institute (BFI). Between them the 21 movies spent just under GBP 520 million of a total figure of GBP 594 million.
The producers of upcoming mountaineering drama Everest are promoting the real filming locations used in the movie. Based on the true story of climbers caught in a devastating avalanche in 1996, the film shot partly on location in Nepal and in the Italian Dolomites.
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.
A new film studio will open in the Korean city of Busan in 2019. Korean capital Seoul got a big profile boost hosting an action sequence for Avengers: Age of Ultron but the new facility in the south of the country could help raise Busan’s production profile.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is pushing for strong international trade agreements to boost the distribution of US film and TV. In turn this could help stimulate filming in America and in states like New York which hosted 277 films in 2013 and 2014.
The Wachowski siblings filmed across the world for their new sci-fi drama series Sense8, being distributed through Netflix. Shot in eight different international cities, the story follows a group of disparate individuals who become telepathically linked.
Screen Yorkshire is setting up an adapted film studio to boost northern England’s production appeal. Yorkshire is regularly used as a filming location – mainly for UK shoots – and has recently doubled for London in A Royal Night Out, and as Belfast for the taut war drama ’71.
Pinewood Studios has launched Pinewood Productions Ireland Limited as a new full service production company to assist clients filming on location in Ireland. The company’s services will include budgeting, location scouting, crew sourcing and equipment and facilities rental.