CTS TO CLOSE WEMBLEY STUDIOS

CTS Studios announced at the end of March that the company’s current premises are to close with effect from 24th June, following the sale of its Wembley site. The decision has been taken as a result of the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium and the surrounding area, which will impinge directly on CTS Studios’ ability to continue operating in its current location. CTS Studios as a company, however, will continue to trade.

Chairman Adrian Kerridge commented: “It is with sadness that we have been forced to move from our Wembley site, which we have occupied since 1972. We have been left with no choice but to close the studios - being adjacent to the stadium, there is no way that we can continue recording once the building work commences, so we are taking positive action now. We will be taking as many of our staff as possible with us, and will be retaining the majority of the studios’ equipment, pending finalisation of further plans. Also, many of our clients will be able to use our sister facilities at Lansdowne, to continue recording and mixing their projects. We are actively pursuing alternative arrangements to fulfil existing commitments.” 

CTS Studios’ history has spanned 44 years, with film credits including recent Oscar successes such as The Cider House Rules, as well as Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Full Monty, and many of the classic Bond movies. With the studios’ client list featuring many of the US and Europe’s best-known composers, film production companies and record labels, the closure of the Wembley site represents the end of a long and successful era at CTS Studios.

PINEWOOD STUDIOS ACQUIRED IN 3i-BACKED MANAGEMENT BUY-IN

Michael Grade joined Ivan Dunleavy to form a management buy-in team to acquire Pinewood Studios from Rank Group plc, with backing from the 3i investment company. Current MD, Steve Jaggs will continue as part of the management. New Chairman Michael Grade said ‘Pinewood offers the international production community unrivalled facilities and film making skills. Our ambition is to build on that success and turn Pinewood into a multi-media production centre, offering excellence both to film, television and new media producers.

3i ALSO BACKS SSL BUYOUT

Carlton Communications sold Solid State Logic to investment group 3i, with the support of the management at the end of 1999. The sale was part of Carlton’s policy of divesting itself of investments outside its core business. The SSL management team remain as before. SSL’s Marketing Director, John Andrews, commented “This is an excellent finale to our 30th birthday year, and the best possible Christmas present for our 350 staff and thousands of customers worldwide”.

THX SMALL ROOM CERTIFICATION

 Lucasfilm THX have announced a new small room certification programme to be known as PM3. It applies the expertise developed over the last 15 years to smaller rooms and establishes new equipment and room acoustic specifications that provide two claimed benefits. PM3 makes it easier to design and build rooms that provide the proper environment for monitoring quality, and to ensure that a multi-channel mix will deliver accurate results in any sized room. Seven rooms had been completed at the launch of the programme - four audio/video sweetening rooms at 20th Century Fox in LA, plus rooms in London, Berlin and Texas. Six speaker systems have also been approved under the scheme including models from Apogee, JBL, M&K, Meyer, Pilote and Munro Associates.

THIS COULD HAVE BEEN IN BRITAIN

Euro Disney is planning to spend £400m building a theme park dedicated to film and television alongside its present Disneyland Paris Magic Kingdom at Marne-La-Vallée, east of Paris, increasing the tourist potential of what is already Europe’s biggest attraction.

The Disney Studio, will be a combination of working film production studio and theme park. It is scheduled to open in 2002, which is ten years after the adjacent Euro Disney opened for business. 

It is planned that the new attraction will offer visitors a behind-the-scenes view of movie making and TV production, themed adventure rides, an insight into the art of animation and a car stunt show. 

The Magic Kingdom currently achieves some 12.5 million visitors a year. The new movie park, which will create 5000 jobs, is hoped to attract an additional 4.5 million tourists in its first year.