Studio complex in Fót expansion to serve foreign, Hungarian productions

The Mafilm Studio complex in Fót on the outskirts of Budapest will be expanded in a large-scale investment project to facilitate both foreign and Hungarian productions, the government commissioner for motion picture said on Monday.

Under the project, four new soundstages will be built on 9,600 sqm increasing total studio capacity fivefold, to 12,200 sqm, Csaba Káel told public Kossuth radio’s morning programme. In addition, the new studios will be connectable in pairs, he said.

Implemented under the government’s economy protection action plan the Fot base expansion will be Hungary’s largest state-funded film studio development project, Káel said.

Fot has long been a base for film production, it has the sceneries for a medieval town and WWII barracks, the commissioner said. It has Europe’s largest outdoor water tank which was used in the shooting of Blade Runner 2049 and Terminator: Dark Fate, he said.

“The Hungarian motion picture industry is a success sector of the Hungarian economy with direct film production spending exceeding 100 billion forints (EUR 283m) every year since 2017. The contribution of the film industry to the country’s GDP is outstandingly high by European comparison.

Budapest is the second most popular filming location on the continent after London,” Káel told the programme.

He noted the 30 percent tax rebate foreign productions receive in Hungary under a government decree enacted three years ago.

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Source: mti