Dubai Studio City was launched in February 2005 to foster the growth of the broadcast, film and music production industry in the region. To be built within the Dubailand complex, Dubai Studio City aims to build a large cluster of companies from across the industry value-chain. The main components of the 22 million sq. feet infrastructure include studio complexes, a social centre, a commercial zone, a residential district and a film academy.
Companies and service providers who will operate from Dubai Studio City include production companies, support service providers offering production and post-production facilities, animation studios and services like dubbing, makeup, costume designing, stage designing and building, casting, telnet agencies as well as telecine and lab facilities.
The hub of activity in the Dubai Studio City cluster will be the film and boutique studio complexes. It will house film, television and audio production and related facilities, including sound stages, warehouses, production support spaces and backlot facilities. The core production area will be accommodated within a world-class film studio complex.
The complex will accommodate 14 sound stages, support facilities and a backlot area of 3.4 million square feet; within a walled campus, designed to international standards and equipped to meet the needs of major Hollywood film and television productions. Phase 1 of the cluster, will comprise of 20 boutique studios, each of which will have their own street addresses.
At the heart of Dubai Studio City will be the Village Centre, the public focus of the development. The Village Centre will have restaurants, festival retailing, movie theatres, an IMAX theatre, black-box performance theatres, two outdoor amphitheatres around a central water feature (one 3,500-seat and one 1.500-seat), a large indoor amphitheatre seating 10,000 and two hotels, all within an exquisitely landscaped park-like setting. The huge theatre capacity created by Dubai Studio City is expected to make it the city’s premier entertainment hub.
Dubai Studio City will also have a Film Academy that will provide training in every aspect of film making, including acting, directing, editing, cinematography and sound engineering. A Commercial Zone in Dubai Studio City will accommodate more office, retail, hospitality and other business facilities. This zone will feature a hotel, a business centre, two residential districts, and a host of commercial plots for long-term lease. Enabling work has started at the site and the first phase of the infrastructure will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2006.
