Elstree was the home to the original Star Wars trilogy, and now under a deal by UK broadcaster Sky, and their parent company Comcast – the studio is to get a major expansion near to the existing site.
Media giant Sky is to build huge new film studios near the existing Elstree production site outside London, creating 2,000 jobs.
The 32-acre development will be used by Sky, other Comcast-owned firms including NBC Universal, and be open to third parties.
Sky predicted up to £3bn would be invested in new production at the site over the next five years.
There is a long history of film making at Elstree. The existing studios, in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, date back to 1925, and were used by George Lucas when he filmed the original Star Wars trilogy.
The new Sky studies will be located close by on land owned by Legal and General, which will fund the development and lease the studios back to Sky.
The studios, which will cost hundreds of millions of pounds to build, will have 14 sound stages.
Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal and General, said the plans were “another development in the modernisation of British industry”.
Disney lost out to Comcast in a bidding war for Sky earlier this year, but perhaps one day Star Wars will return to film at its ancestral home as the new studio will be open to third parties.
