HUNGARY: Giant new film studio opens near Budapest

Record ID: 724337

  • Title: HUNGARY: Giant new film studio opens near Budapest
  • Date: 16th July 2007
  • Summary: (CEEF) BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) LASZLO KRISAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF KORDA STUDIO SAYING: "Hungary, the tax incentives, Budapest and the studio can form together such a unit with which we can compete with the large European studios with a very good chance. We can compare in this respect Budapest to Prague in terms of its standards and culture, and the studio there [in Prague] is an important benchmark for us."
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA7SM0GNOLK62EQQJ4B8RLYY9KL
  • Story Text: Hungary's latest new film facility, the Korda Film Studio, has opened its first buildings, while construction work continues on the rest of the area.
    Built on a former missile base near Budapest outside the village of Etyek, the Korda Studio will be one of the largest film studios in the world.
    By the end of the year, the studios will have six soundstages, support buildings with screening rooms, post-production facilities, a film lab, restaurant, hotel and sound studio.
    The developers say it's a one-stop shop complex, with a total floor space of nearly four hundred and thirty thousand square feet.
    Korda's owners include Hungarian real estate mogul Sandor Demjan and minority investors such as the Hungarian-born producer Andrew Vajna.
    The first production that began filming in early June in the new studios is Universal's "Hellboy 2". It is the largest film to be shot in Hungary so far, with a 72 million USD budget.
    The first instalment was shot in Prague but the production decided to move to Hungary for cost reasons, and because the new hall opened months early to accommodate the film.
    Managing director Laszlo Krisan says he believes the amount of space, in combination with Hungary's significant 20% cash-back tax incentive will bring Hungary to the forefront of the European film industry.
    "Hungary, the tax incentives, Budapest and the studio can form together such a unit with which we can compete with the large European studios with a very good chance. We can compare in this respect Budapest to Prague in terms of its standards and culture, and the studio there [in Prague] is an important benchmark for us," Krisan said.
    The new studio's most unique feature will be a giant water tank that will be the largest indoor water tank in the world, Krisan said adding that even a Titanic 2 could easily be shot there.
    It will be a more than 5,500 square metres giant water stage with a clear height of 20 metres, and a 1.5 metre to 6 metre deep water tank. Special effects equipment for open water shoots such as wind and wave machines will also be available. Uniquely, the water tank will also have a multi-functional dry use.
    Korda Studio hopes that with all their unique features they will be able to help attract Hollywood films to European film studios.
    "The globalised film industry doesn't really know the distances, and it's really worth drawing the US film productions over to Europe with incentives, experts knowledge, locations and it would be positive for the whole of Europe," Krisan said.
    The nearby village of Etyek also hopes to benefit from the new studio complex.
    The village of 3,700 inhabitants has always attracted visitors for its famous wines and medieval remains, but now the villagers hope for new job opportunities from the film studio.
    "Many people here have been waiting for a long time for the start of the operations at the film studio. We hope that many Etyek inhabitants will find work at the film studio. Many people are already working at the studio as security guards, and as the new studio began work some people got work at the area of the film shoot. And we hope that other people in the village will also have advantages indirectly via the studio," mayor Armin Nadpor said.
    The next stage of the Korda studio is to be completed by the end of the year and film productions are already booking the space for 2008.
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