
Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video has taken another major step into the British film and TV industry with the acquisition of the 70-year-old studio where The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power was filmed.
Financial terms of the Bray Film Studios deal were not disclosed, but Amazon’s first production with the studio will be the second season of the Russo Brothers’ “Citadel” series, which is scheduled to premiere in September. Amazon-MGM Studios was originally listed as the potential buyer for Bray, but was later replaced by Prime Video.
Amazon, which already leases production facilities at Britain’s Shepperton Studios, will produce TV series and feature films for its streaming service Prime Video at the Berkshire facility, about 26 miles from central London. The acquisition includes approximately 53,600 square feet of sound stage space across five stages, 77,400 square feet of workshops, 39,400 square feet of offices, a 182,900-square-foot backlot and 156,000 square feet of parking space.
Prime Video produced the second season of Bray’s The Rings of Power, widely considered the most expensive TV show ever produced. Other recent productions at the studio include Rocketman, Dracula and King’s Man.
“With Bray as our creative hub in the UK, we’re committed to deepening our connections with the UK’s creative community, which is home to some of the world’s best storytellers and creative talent of all kinds,” said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. “The acquisition of such a historic studio will not only empower us to make more film and TV shows in the UK, but it will also bring a wealth of opportunities for the local community in employment and skills training at all levels of the production process.”
Bray has been around for over 70 years, having been founded by Hammer Film Productions in 1951 and sold 20 years later. It was sold again in 2014 and filming resumed there five years later, after which Rings of Power was shot there. Going back further, it has also been the site of films such as The Rocky Horror Show, The Mummy, The Curse of Frankenstein and Terence Fisher’s Dracula.
Bray chairman Frank Burke said the studios have “held an important place in British film history” for the past 70 years. “During our ownership, I have witnessed the revival of this iconic facility, together with my family and team, and I am incredibly proud of the role we have played in putting it on the map again. We are now incredibly excited to hand the studios over to Amazon, who share our commitment to quality and excellence and believe they are perfectly suited to preserve the character of the studios whilst enhancing a first-class creative production space for the next generation of filmmakers.”
Bray is the second UK studio to be owned by a US studio, after Warner Bros. Discovery’s Leavesden. The move comes more than two years after Amazon signed a multi-million pound deal with Pinewood’s Shepperton Studios to lease the facility for the next 10 years. This puts Bray next door to Netflix, which also has studio space on the site. Disney also leases space at Sinfield Studios.
Notably, six months before this news broke, Amazon had written to a parliamentary committee warning the UK government not to take for granted the UK’s status as a production hub to rival Hollywood. The streaming giant said that US studios could change filming locations at “short notice” if the UK became less competitive in the coming years.
With the US strikes and the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, the UK has recently seen a battle for studio space, capitalising on local tax credits and abundant talent. James Corden’s Fulwell 73 is set to open a £450 million ($578 million) film and TV studio in the northeast of England, with others opening in London, Scotland and Manchester. A James Cameron-backed $950 million studio in Buckinghamshire was recently denied building permission.