Judge Dredd, owner, rebellion installs a new film and television studio in the UK – Variety

Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper engage in action near Oxford, England.

The video game company Rebellion, which turns to film and television, has bought a great print that will be converted into a studio for the highly anticipated TV series Judge Dredd "Judge Dredd: Mega-City One" and his film Snape. Trooper movie, directed by Duncan Jones ("Source Code"). Both projects feature characters from the legendary British comic series "2000 AD", which Rebellion rightly bought in 2000.

In addition to serving the burgeoning film and television projects of Rebellion, the studio will also be made available to third parties, which will boost the entertainment industry in Britain, where demand for television is increasing. space exceeds the supply.

The Didcot site, about 50 miles west of London, was previously a printing press for the Daily Mail newspaper. With large soundproof spaces already in place, some parts of the installation will be ready to be used within a few weeks, without it being necessary to go through the long process of authorization of planning.

Extensive extensions are underway at Pinewood, Shepperton, Church Fenton and other studios, and plans are underway to build new facilities in Liverpool, East London and Leeds. But with the nearby production sites in London and Bristol, the new Rebellion studios will now provide the extra space they so badly need. Its total area is 220,000 square feet, including a sound stage of 25,000 square feet.

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Jason Kingsley, who founded Rebellion with his brother Chris, said the site would be used both as a film location and as a studio. He said the site and milestones are valued at $ 100 million. The company plans to create up to 500 new jobs as the new studio becomes operational.

In the world of video games, Rebellion is known for the "Sniper Elite" series and its recent releases such as "Strange Brigade". She acquired a bunch of IP comics, after buying Egmont's "2000 AD" and, two years ago, the Fleetway and IPC Youth Group archives come from the same seller, an agreement that gave him titles and characters, including "Battle", "Action" and "Roy of the Rovers".

Jason Kingsley said Variety that the barriers between the different types of on-screen entertainment and storytelling disappear. "I think we're good at creating content of different types, on-screen content, interactive games and all kinds of things, and I hope we'll be successful in making television and movies, "he said.

The Kingsleys produced the feature film "Dredd" in 2012 and the hard-hitting jurist will be back in the TV series "Judge Dredd: Mega-City One". It will be produced by Rebellion Studios, which, hand-piloted, talks to potential broadcast and platform partners. The film Rogue Trooper features the blue-skinned and genetic super-titular super-soldier, and is being developed in partnership with Duncan Jones and Stuart Finnegan, who produce and produce respectively.

The creation of the new studio, which is near the Rebellion base in Oxford, is partly due to a lack of space to pursue these new projects, said Kingsley.

"We have a huge library of good stories and we will also do original things," said Kingsley. "We make computer games. VFX is an area that we are also looking at. There are a lot of interesting things, but you need craft skills and facilities … and it's hard to find them. We sought and found no place to turn what we had the ambition to do. "

Chris Kingsley pointed out that the growth in demand for Netflix and Amazon content, for example, was an opportunity, but that it also represented a challenge in terms of both space and time. ; facilities. "We are seeing more and more big players wanting to take part in the action," he said. "It's very exciting for the domestic and global film industries, but it also means our infrastructure is under increasing pressure."

The Rebellion Library covers superheroes but also addresses other genres. With the acquisition of the TI Media library, the group has a 130-year-old archive, which includes "Comic Cuts", dating back to 1888 and which is probably the origin of the term "comic strip".

"We have plans, we have a lot of scripts in development, we have a lot of written scripts, we have pilots looking for people to work with, we have people going to the United States to talk to people who are market routes, "said Jason Kingsley.