Written by on Jun 26, 2014. Posted in On Location

Pinewood Shepperton Studios announces revenues boost

Pinewood Studios has announced a revenues boost for the 2013/14 financial year. The company reported an increase of 16.5% on the previous year and highlighted key developments including the completion of its new Q Stage and progress on Pinewood Atlanta Studios in the US.

The new 45,000-square-foot Q Stage – named after the gadget expert ‘Q’ in the James Bond franchise – was officially opened in December last year by actor Ben Whishaw, who played the new Q in Skyfall. Pinewood has also made a deal to market the Welsh government’s new GBP30 million Media Development Budget, and over in the US the company has completed the initial stage of development on its Atlanta facility.

“The Company has made an excellent start to the new financial year, enjoying good visibility for the year as a whole,” said Pinewood’s Chief Executive Ivan Dunleavy.

“Demand for the studios’ UK facilities is at an unprecedented level. We welcome the decision on 19 June 2014 by the Communities Secretary to grant permission for the Pinewood Studios Development Framework as recommended by the Planning Inspectorate. We will proceed quickly with the preparations for construction of this much needed additional capacity.”

The Pinewood Studios Development Framework was finally authorised after a long legal battle with local residents, partly caused by the plan to build on green-belt land. Pinewood now plans to build 100,000 square metres of studio space, stages, workshops and offices.

Lucasfilm has based Star Wars: Episode VII at Pinewood and has announced that the franchise’s first standalone movie will also shoot at the studio in 2015.