Major Hollywood production studio Lionsgate is going to be the lead tenant at a new Douglas County film and TV complex.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle broke the news Wednesday and a Lionsgate spokesman confirmed with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the information was accurate. The story doesn’t say how much space Lionsgate will lease or the duration of the deal and the spokesman declined to provide any more details.
Lionsgate supported all of Tyler Perry’s theatrically released “Madea” films and it shot three of its four “Hunger Games” films in metro Atlanta. Other films the studio has distributed and/or produced in Atlanta include 2012′s “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” 2017′s “All Eyez On Me” and 2018′s “Uncle Drew.”
The company will lease space in partnership with Great Point Studios, a media-focused investment fund specializing in film and television infrastructure which has worked with Lionsgate on studio space in New York and New Jersey.
According to Holder Properties, Great Point Studios will be a 40-acre, $160 million film and television production facility with the first stages scheduled to open in late 2023. It will have 11 sound stages and 480,000-square-foot capacity.
This is part of a massive growth in studios in Georgia, which has very generous tax credits to draw big-name Hollywood production companies to shoot here.
Athena Studios just opened in Athens. Electric Owl Studios near the Indian Creek MARTA station is set to open later this year and so is Gray Television’s Assembly Studios in Doraville. Fayetteville’s Trilith Studio is in the midst of adding eight more soundstages on top of its 24. Cinelease is also expanding its Three Ring Studios in Covington.
This isn’t the first long-term deal a major production company has signed with a locally-owned studio operator. NBCUniversal, which owns NBC, Bravo, USA Network and the Peacock streaming service, will oversee Gray’s Assembly Studios once it opens in June, producing not only its own films and TV shows but also leasing remaining space to other firms.
Companies like Netflix and Apple TV+ have signed shorter-term deals in the past with local studios.
Only one Hollywood company ― AMC ― has purchased studio space in metro Atlanta outright: Riverwood Studios in Senoia in 2017.
Great Points Studio will be part of The Trails, a $350 million, mixed-use development in Douglas County with plans for housing, a hotel and retail space.
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