Penzing Studios is in expansion mode, and has begun hosting film and TV shoots in the former airbase 30 KM west of Munich.
The refurbished airplane hangars already feature a full-scale virtual production stage with additional sound stages set to open in June and a major investment planned.
Developers plan to invest an additional €100 million ($113 million) over the next three years to expand the facility to 12 sound stages with 25,000 square meters of production space and 15,000-square-meters of workshop and office spaces, they announced in a statement on Monday. The new hub will also house post-production, visual effects, gaming, digital media, and technology companies, educational opportunities. It will provide more than 1,000 jobs by 2025.
Penzing Studios will be the world’s first zero-emission film studio. All structures added to the existing facilities will use rammed earth and timber to create a sustainable working environment.
With local language content on the rise, demand for studio facilities is rising. A boom in content production is set to grow at double-digit rates in the next five years. Streaming companies are also increasing their budgets for local language content.
Although a slew of studio initiatives have recently been announced in other countries, Germany’s offer has been limited to Bavaria Studios in Grünwald, Studio Babelsberg in Berlin, and MCC in Cologne, and these are often at capacity.
“Supply continues to outstrip demand for studio facilities and there are transformative shifts underway in the way in which film and television is created. We are at the forefront of these changes and aim to create a sustainable hub in which creative people can thrive and do their best work.” says Penzing Studios Managing Partner Jörn Siegele and producer and partner Joe Neurauter who shot “Kung Fury II” with Michael Fassbender und Arnold Schwarzenegger, and “Guns Akimbo” with Daniel Radcliffe in the region.
“Productions that want to shoot in the region often have to switch to other locations because of a lack of available state-of-the-art and scalable studio facilities. We are thrilled about the launch of Penzing Studios and its forward-thinking approach to the future of production. It allows us to offer incoming productions a compelling package with advanced digital studio facilities, an established crew base, attractive incentives, and a desirable shooting destination in the heart of Europe,” added Bavarian film commissioner Anja Metzger. (Variety)