Warner Bros. Officially Opens Studio in U.K.

Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, a state-of-the-art film and television studio today opened for business. The facility, the first of its kind to be built in the UK in 70 years, secures the future of over a third of the dedicated major feature film production stage space in the UK and helps further position the country as a centre of filmmaking excellence.

Based just outside Watford, Hertfordshire, Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is the only film studio in the country to be owned and operated by a major Hollywood studio. It is available to all kinds of productions, not just Warner Bros., from commercials to music videos, TV shows to feature films.

Formally the production home of all eight Harry Potter films, the new studio is spread across a secure 200-acre site and houses a collection of some of the largest sound stages in the UK spanning over a quarter of a million square feet, including one of the largest heated underwater filming tanks in Europe. In addition, the site provides an unrivalled, clear horizon 100 acre back-lot, one of the most extensive in Europe, which can be adapted for any production need.

Josh Berger President and Managing Director, Warner Bros. UK, Ireland and Spain, said: “Alongside a growing UK film, TV and games production slate, the opening of Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden clearly demonstrates the company’s commitment to the UK and underlines our belief in the world-class talent that resides on these shores. As well as helping to generate inward investment and create new jobs both locally and nationally, this significant infrastructure outlay – probably the single biggest the UK film industry has witnessed in decades – will further amplify the UK’s reputation as the go-to place for film and TV production.”

Roy Button OBE, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Warner Bros. Productions Ltd, which is based at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, added: “As the levels of studio-based production in the UK have risen in recent years, so too has our own UK production output. Back in 2000, we produced just one movie here in the UK, last year it was seven, so by adding this important resource to the UK’s studio landscape we are helping to meet not just our own production needs, but those of the wider thriving British film industry.”