The Cape Town film industry is about to start a bumper year of movie production, with parts of ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ likely to be shot in Cape Town, reports the Sunday Times. The Cape Town Film Studio is said to be so busy with productions that it is turning some away!
The ‘Avengers’ sequel is set to star Scarlett Johannson, Robert Downey jnr, and Chris Hemsworth, a multi-million movie which will largely be shot in London. The Cape Town Film Commission has not confirmed the production, but met with the production company late last year.
Major production companies have approached the Cape Town Film Commission about filming major feature films, international networks from Japan and India, as well as the BBC have made contact with the Commission. An international reality TV show may be shot in Cape Town or Durban in winter, The New Age reports.
Last year ‘The Giver’, starring Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, and Jeff Bridges,was shot in Cape Town. The pirate series ‘Black Sails’ is being filmed at the moment for the USA, while a new ‘Dracula’ movie may also be filmed here. In the three year existence of the studio, it has also produced ‘Mad Max‘ and ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’. The Cape Town Film Studio CEO Nico Dekker believes that their track record over the past three years has built confidence in its capability.
The value of the South Africa’s film industry has been calculated at R3,5 billion by the National Film and Video Foundation and Deloitte. The Cape Town Film Commission calculates that Cape Town’s film industry is worth R5 billion in its economic impact. Interestingly Gauteng is more popular than Cape Town for film production, having attracted 33% of projects, and Cape Town 25%. ‘Chappie’ is currently being filmed by Neill Blomkamp in Johannesburg, starring Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and Dev Patel.
With the weak Rand South Africa is an attractive film location, and Cape Town particularly beautiful for such productions.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
20
3070
27k
20