From the Daily Mail
America’s Walt Disney company is negotiating a multi-million pound deal to move into the UK studios where many of Britain’s greatest blockbusters – including the James Bond series and Harry Potter – were filmed.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the entertainment and amusement park group – which owns America’s ABC TV network and one of Hollywood’s largest production centres – has drawn up an agreement to take over offices and sound stages at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
According to industry insiders, the deal is a ‘major victory’ for the British film industry. The investment is thought to be worth about £5 million, although Disney sources would not confirm the figure.
The complex is renowned for its gigantic sets, such as the 69,000 sq ft ‘007 stage’ built for the Bond movies, including Skyfall, the latest in the franchise, as well as for the fishing village featured in Mamma Mia!
Disney has used it for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Angelina Jolie was recently there to for Maleficent, the company’s remake of Sleeping Beauty.
Under the new agreement, Disney will have the sole use of several of the complex’s 17 sound stages.
A spokesman said: ‘Walt Disney Studios is looking to enter into a long-term lease arrangement with Pinewood Studios.’
A Hollywood insider familiar with the agreement said last night: ‘Instead of paying to do productions at Pinewood on a film-by-film basis, the intention is that Walt Disney will have a lease on sound stages and the company will move into a certain amount of office space.