Pinewood Studios has sold its minority stake in the Dominican Republic’s horizon water tank facility, which has been renamed Lantica Studios after its now sole owner, Lantica Media.
Formerly known as the Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios, Lantica Studios is undertaking the building of a fourth soundstage, measuring 16,000 sq.ft., and two additional workshop spaces of 12,000 sq. ft each, mainly dedicated to housing camera, grip and electric equipment vendors. These are set to open by the Spring of 2025.
The landmark expansion comes as the 10-year-old studio has seen record growth in international and local production, which has led to the availability of more skilled crew in the Dominican Republic (DR), either trained on the job or in regularly held workshops. “We’ve grown from hiring locals at an average rate of 400 – 500 a year to 2,000 a year,” said Albert Martinez, CEO of Lantica Studios.
With the closure last year of the Baja Film Studios in Mexico, built expressly by Fox for James Cameron’s “Titanic,” Lantica Studios is the only studio facility – among the largest in the region – with a water tank.
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Presently, it features 53,800 square feet of soundstage space, complemented by 161,460 square feet of associated production support facilities. Additionally, it houses an eight-acre water effects facility that includes the 246 ft x 246 ft exterior water tank with natural ocean horizons, blue screen capabilities as well as a fully equipped diving and marine department.
Said Martinez: “The studios were a first for the entire Caribbean and Central American region when we launched 10 years ago, and since then the film ecosystem in the Dominican Republic and across Latin America has gone from strength to strength – so much so that we are facing more demand than our current infrastructure can keep up with.”
Lantica Studios has the capacity to simultaneously host three to four productions and averages 12 to 14 a year, Martinez told PvNew.
Projects shot at the studio include “The Lost City” (Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe), “Nyad” (Jodie Foster, Annette Benning) and “Road House” (Jake Gyllenhaal), while recent works include MGM+ series “Hotel Cocaine” (Yul Vazquez, Danny Pino and Michael Chiklis) and Season 1 of Arven Chen’s “Coolie.”
Upcoming shows include two Spanish-language projects and a mid-sized budget Hollywood pic. Last year’s twin strikes in Hollywood impacted them but more Spanish-language works took up the slack, according to Martinez.
“We’ve welcomed projects from all over the globe with partners like Disney, Paramount, Amazon MGM, Netflix, NBC Universal – and we are thrilled to be entering a new phase of growth,” he said.
