Production company Camelot Films U.K. is poised for growth with the launch of Camelot Media, a new production base in Malta, and a burgeoning slate.
Camelot, the company behind Amazon film “Prizefighter,” featuring Ray Winstone and Russell Crowe, has secured financial support from Malta Enterprise, who are responsible for the country’s economic development. Camelot will be operated fully out of Malta producing a slate of films and co-producing third party projects that will be filmed on the island. It will manage all aspects of production services as well as handling the 40% rebate that Malta offers on qualifying productions.
Camelot have produced three films in Malta since 2019 and has also helped structure and nurture several other third-party projects which were recently filmed in the country. The company’s next project is a documentary titled “The Psychopath Life Coach” launching on Netflix in the U.K. on Nov. 22. The slate includes action-adventure franchise “The Lost Book of Creation,” supported by Creative Malta, which begins principal photography in the second quarter of 2024.
The Camelot slate also includes the true story Mafia biopic based on bestselling book “The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain.” Cain lived a double life as a Chicago police officer and Mafia-made man for the Chicago outfit. Camelot have also optioned the rights to the book “Never Will I Die” based on the true story of special forces operative Toby Gutteridge, who was paralyzed after he was shot in the neck on a night raid in Afghanistan.
Camelot Films was founded by Matt Hookings who runs the company alongside associate producer Jay Gill, marketing executives Luke Faulkner, Mat Newcomb and development producer Jennifer Jones.
Hookings said: “This announcement for Camelot has been 10 years in the making and this support from Malta will allow us to expand our production base and drive our slate forward. We are thrilled with this endorsement from both private investors and Malta Enterprise and look forward to shooting our next project there, aiming to bring the best projects to the island and help grow the local film industry and strengthen the Maltese economy.”
Located in the Mediterranean Sea, 50 miles south of Sicily and 176 miles east of Tunisia, Malta has a long history as a filming location stretching back to the 1925 silent “Sons of the Sea.” Films shot in the island republic include 1995’s “Cutthroat Island,” 2002’s “The Count of Monte Cristo,” 2000’s “Gladiator,” 2004’s “Troy” and more recent titles like Apple TV+’s “Foundation” and “Jurassic World: Dominion.”
In 2022, the country hosted 24 projects — including Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix — employing more than 900 Maltese and 1,000 foreigners, generating $94 million in economic activity, giving the production community its best year in a decade. Scott is expected to resume shooting “Gladiator 2″ in Malta imminently.
