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Amazon has bought Bray Film Studios near London, the former home to the Hammer horror series of movies, in a push to expand its production of television series and feature films in the UK.
Amazon said on Monday that its Prime Video division had acquired the studios, which comprises five stages, workshops and offices, for an undisclosed sum.
Bray Studios has already worked with Amazon MGM Studios, helping produce the second season of the Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in 2022.
The next Amazon MGM Studios production to be made at Bray following the acquisition will be the second season of the Russo brothers’ spy series Citadel, starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Amazon Prime Video also uses nine sound stages at UK’s Shepperton Studios.
The deal marks a further boost to the UK’s studio and production sector, which helps make many of the largest Hollywood movies at facilities owned by Disney, Sky, Warner Brothers Discovery and Amazon. Last year, half of the top 20 film releases were made at least partly in Britain, including Barbie and Wonka.
US studios in particular have been attracted by tax breaks and access to talented workers, although the sector has been hit by the slowdown in production caused by the Hollywood strike last year as well as production curbs among streamers.
This has not stopped a series of studio developments planned, however, with more than 3mn sq ft promised in expanded schemes in studios in Elstree, Leavesden, Shepperton, along with proposed studios in cities such as Sunderland.
Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said that the US tech giant was “committed to deepening our relationships with the UK creative community, which is rich with world-class storytellers and creative talent of all kind”.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said that the Labour government was “determined to support the huge potential for economic growth in our creative industries”.
She said: “This vote of confidence by Amazon MGM Studios will ensure that one of our leading film studios continues to play a crucial role in our first-class screen industries. It will deliver a major investment in skills and infrastructure to enhance our status as Europe’s top film-making destination.”
The site was owned by Bray Film Studios Ltd. Frank Burke, chair of the group, said that for “70-plus years, Bray Studios has held an important place in the history of British film-making”.
Bray Film Studios was established in 1951 when Hammer purchased an 18th-century English country house and land formerly known as Down Place.
Hammer has produced horror and fantasy films such as The Mummy, The Curse of Frankenstein, and Terence Fisher’s Dracula. Other productions at Bray Film Studios have included The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Ridley Scott’s Alien, Eric Clapton’s MTV Unplugged TV special and album and the Elton John biopic Rocketman.
