A US movie studio group behind blockbusters including Venom, Jumanji and Godzilla is to build a £150m Hollywood-style production complex in Reading, creating as many as 3,000 jobs.
Atlanta-based Blackhall Studios is to build and run the studio, which it says will be the third-largest in the UK. It will be located in the Thames Valley Science Park, which is owned by the University of Reading.
The construction of a new state-of-the-art film studio, which aims to be up and running by 2022 subject to planning consent being granted this year, comes as the UK struggles to keep up with the demand for studio space as TV companies, film studios and the streaming giants such as Netflix pour billions into making content.
There has been a rush by commercial companies to build more studio space in recent years but this one is unusual in that the British government has been working with Blackhall Studios over the last year to help secure a site.
“The UK and the US are each other’s largest investors and this announcement demonstrates the strength of our trading relationship,” said Liz Truss, the international trade secretary.
Truss used the deal as evidence that the UK is capable of striking a wider trade agreement with the US post Brexit.
“I look forward to negotiating and signing a new ambitious free trade agreement with the US, to ensure we can continue to deepen our trading relationship and grow our creative industries,” she said.
Last month, the British Film Institute revealed that a record £3.6bn was spent making the likes of the next James Bond film, No Time To Die, and Sam Mendes’s 1917, and high-end TV programmes such as the BBC’s His Dark Materials and Netflix’s The Crown, in the UK.
In December, the US TV giant Comcast, which owns Sky and NBCUniversal, the company behind The Fast and The Furious maker Universal Studios, announced plans to build a European production base in Elstree, north London.
Last year, Netflix struck a deal to set up a permanent production base at Shepperton, home to films including Alien and Mary Poppins Returns. Netflix is spending about $500m (£385m) on making shows and films in the UK this year. Disney, which recently launched its Disney+ streaming service in a number of international markets, has secured space at Pinewood Studios, home to Star Wars and James Bond.
