Barrandov studio in Prague has the largest film studio in Europe to date. The construction of a 4,000 square meters complex began this spring and the expected 4.5 million USD budget was exceeded by 200 per cent as Tomáš Chrenek, the chief of Barrandov Studio advisory committee, announced at today’s press conference.
This new development represents the biggest investment into Czech film industry for the past 60 years. “We consolidated Barrandov’s leading position among the biggest studios in Europe and around the world thanks to this capacity extension” stated Chrenek.
The new complex includes 2 studios of 1,000 square meters area and 12 meters height; a third studio is 2,000 square meters in size and almost 14 meters high. All the studios can be connected to an open space more than 100 meters long. Chrenek says the contracts for next year prove it was a good investment. He believes the co-operation of the film makers and politicians can bring a new law for cinematography and can also lead to changes in law about tax incentives for foreign producers.
According to Barrandov studio board director Vladimír Kuba, the first international projects to be produced in the new spaces are going to be the next episode of “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and American-European co-production of sci-fi feature “Babylon”. “The really first business is going to be a commercial of one European car producer,” Kuba said. Babylon will be filmed from mid January to mid February 2008 with a 60 million USD budget. Vin Diesel, as well as the director of the movie Mathieu Kassovitz will also join the opening party tonight.
“We have also the signed contract for Prince Caspian, which is going to fill all except one of the Barrandov studios, with additional Prague capacities being available from the end of next January to spring time. From mid March we keep studio nr. 5 reserved for the commercials, because these productions are our very important clients,” Kuba added. With respect to the high level of standard that film makers can find here, next-year’s price lists noted “slight increasings in few per cents” according to Kuba.
“Because of the re-buildings and stuff changes, studios can’t be used at 100%, however the fact their capacity is reserved to summer shows the total space is not so big,” Chrenek said.
“Combination of Prague, Barrandov and capabilities of Czech film makers, who co-operate with foreign film stuff, is our key property nobody can take us,” Kuba stated and added that for example Babylon staff include 25 foreigners, while the rest are Czechs.
The new complex is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies. This provides the full comfort of bridges and elevators; a crab system that allows for the hanging of loads and decorations, anchored in the wooden floor. The air-conditioning and the devices for local smoke outlet are commonplaces. An underground corridor connects the studios with the background spaces.
According to Petr Poled?ák, Barrandov’s sales and marketing director, this complex is the largest studio in Europe. “So far the biggest, but not sound-proof, was the complex of London Pinewoods studios. However, during finishing works on Bond’s Casino Royale it burned,” he stated.
Two of the smaller new studios are equipped with trap-cellars, enabling the building and assembly of a loft-full of decorations. They say the only thing missing in the studio is a large pool of good quality, as the current one is already inadequate.
