Africa’s First World Class Film Studios Attract Hollywood’s Filmmakers

Do you know what Leonardo DiCaprio’s "Blood Diamond," 3D action movie "Dredd," super hero thriller "Chronicle" and Denzel Washington’s "Safe House" have in common?

They are Hollywood blockbusters made in the Cape Town Film Studios in South Africa. It is the first state of the art world class film studio in Africa opened in 2010.

“It is amazing,” commended Jim Dodson, an executive producer of Chronicle, the 20th Century Fox movie that was made with about $15 million in Cape Town, and made over $120 million at the box office.

You will spend half of the budget of Hollywood blockbusters at the Cape Town Film Studios as noted by Andrew Macdonald, producer of Dredd. “Film that looks like $100 million can be produced for less than half that figure.”

Nico Dekker, the CEO of Cape Town Film Studios is proud of their achievements.
“We give life to film projects that were seen as unaffordable in the US or Europe,” he told Kristin Palitza in an interview published in the July edition of Forbes Africa.

The location of the studios is perfect with awesome beaches, mountains and vineyards.
“It offers beautiful locations and an incredible variety of landscapes, all within a three-hour radius,” Dekker emphasized.

South African filmmakers no longer need to travel to America or Europe for studio work like post production and visual effects, because they can now do all that in the Cape Town Film Studios. Producers can start and wrap their movies in the studios and get real value for their money.

Forbes Africa reported that at full capacity, the Cape Town Film Studios can add about $180 million to South Africa’s GDP! The South African film and TV industry has an annual turnover of $175 million and creates jobs for over 30, 000 people.

The building of the 17, 000 square metres studios cost $41 million. The complex has four stages, support rooms, production offices, green screens, workshops and a cinema on 200 hectares of land and it only takes you 40 minutes to get there from main Cape Town and 10 minutes from the airport.

The Hollywood Reporter ranked it among the top ten film studios in the world. The private investors made up of a consortium of South African stakeholders are happy with the successes achieved so far.