Village Roadshow Studios Explained

Village Roadshow Studios
Location:Gold Coast, Australia
Address:Entertainment Road
Coordinates:-27.911°N 153.3112°W
Inauguration Date:1991; 32 years ago
Owner:Village Roadshow
Building Type:Film and television studios

Village Roadshow Studios are a set of film studios located in Oxenford, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The studios are owned by Village Roadshow and consist of nine sound stages as well as a range of other production facilities. The studio commenced in June 1991 and is one of three film studios in Australia, the others being Disney Studios Australia in Sydney and Docklands Studios Melbourne.

The studios have been home to many feature films, telemovies, TV series and miniseries. Some feature film productions include Aquaman, San Andreas, , Scooby-Doo, House of Wax, Ghost Ship, and . TV productions have included H2O: Just Add Water,Terra Nova, BeastMaster and the Lost World series.

History

Village Roadshow Studios opened in 1986 and was commissioned by Dino De Laurentiis for De Laurentiis Entertainment Limited (DEL). Village Roadshow purchased DEL and took over the facility in 1988. The Studios were built before WB Movie World in 1991 and they are adjacent to the Warner Bros. Movie World theme park. Despite their physical proximity and operational links, the studios and theme park are separate entities.

The theme park, and the studios' management have no involvement with productions and, as such, do not recommend cast, crew or extras. This is done independently by the production. However, experienced Warner Bros. Movie World staff are often involved in productions filmed at the studios. The studios are not open to the general public and as the productions are independently owned, permission to go on-set can only be obtained from the production itself.

In June 2004, a fire in Sound Stage 8, during the production of House of Wax, destroyed the sound stage.[1]

Facility

The facility consists of nine sound stages,[2] three water tanks (two outdoor and one indoor; one of which is the largest purpose built film water tank in Australia),[3] 10 production areas,[4] five construction workshops,[5] onsite support facilities,[6] two wardrobe and laundry facilities,[7] accounting services,[8] lock ups,[9] screening and editing,[10] preview theatrette, visual effects studio, film processing, post production, travel and freight services, and much more.

In addition to producing a variety of television shows and films, the studios have also been used by the adjacent Warner Bros. Movie World theme park. When the two facilities opened in 1991, a Studio Tour was run from Warner Bros. Movie World throughout the production areas of the Village Roadshow Studios before returning to the Movie Magic Special Effects Show.[11] In 2011, both Sound Stage 1 and 2 were utilised for the theme park's annual halloween event, Fright Nights. The Saw and Zombie Apocalypse mazes were housed in these studios throughout October.[12]

In 2018, some sound stages were used for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and played host to sports such as boxing and table tennis. Temporary spectator seating was installed for a total of 6,200 people for the two sports.[13]

Productions

Films

See also: List of films shot on the Gold Coast.

TV series

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: 'House of Wax' melts at Movie World. 17 November 2011. New Zealand Herald. 28 June 2004.
  2. Web site: Sound Stage Facilities. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  3. Web site: Tank Facilities. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  4. Web site: Production Office Facilities. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  5. Web site: Construction Workshops. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  6. Web site: Support Facilities. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  7. Web site: Wardrobe & Laundry Facilities. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  8. Web site: Production Services. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  9. Web site: Lock ups. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  10. Web site: Screening & Editing Facilities. Village Roadshow Studios. 17 November 2011.
  11. News: Hong. Tang Bee. Australia's Hollywood. 17 November 2011. New Straits Times. 26 January 1992.
  12. Web site: This year, a new.... Facebook. 17 November 2011. Warner Bros. Movie World. 17 August 2011.
  13. News: Games bid vital to Gold Coast's health. 17 November 2011. Gold Coast Bulletin. 13 May 2011.
  14. News: Hall. Loretta. Richard Roxburgh's underwater adventure. 17 November 2011. News Limited. 3 February 2011.
  15. News: Lewis. Maria. Action for Narnia shoot. 17 November 2011. Gold Coast Bulletin. 30 July 2009.
  16. News: Ethan Hawke's Gold Coast shoot. 17 November 2011. The Courier Mail. 12 July 2007. AAP.
  17. News: Feeney. Katherine. Jodie Foster lights up Gold Coast. 17 November 2011. Brisbane Times. 20 March 2008.
  18. News: Fool's Gold gets thumbs up. 17 November 2011. Gold Coast Bulletin. 1 February 2008.
  19. News: Candle blamed for Movie World fire. 17 November 2011. The Age. 27 June 2004. AAP.
  20. News: Movie World explosion injures three. 17 November 2011. The Age. 5 February 2003. AAP.
  21. News: Paget. Dale. Stars snub Scooby premiere. 17 November 2011. The Age. 18 June 2002.
  22. News: Hogan will revive Crocodile Dundee. 17 November 2011. The Deseret News. 19 June 2000.
  23. News: Warner Bros. opening Australian theme park. 17 November 2011. The Daily Union. 26 May 1991.
  24. Web site: Knox. David. Airdate: Rock Island Mysteries. TV Tonight. 27 April 2022. 28 April 2022. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20220427090029/https://tvtonight.com.au/2022/04/airdate-rock-island-mysteries.html. 27 April 2022.
  25. News: Spielberg puts tiny town of Bonogin on new ground in dinosaur sci-fi. 17 November 2011. The Courier Mail. 25 September 2010. Pierce, Jeremy. Shearer, Geoff.