The company was being sold to Auckland Film Studios Limited \u2014 part of the Xytech Group \u2014 for a undisclosed price. <\/p>\n
The council confirmed the sale would also protect the New Zealand Government’s $30 million contribution towards two new sound stages, which would will come back to the council to be held in a fund and reinvested in further new Auckland screen infrastructure. <\/p>\n
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said the sale was “a win for our region\u2019s outstanding screen production industry”. <\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve some experience here developing movie theatres and film studios, I know the industry and this is a good move that also delivers for ratepayers. We\u2019ll be handing this over to a seasoned operator, and that\u2019s where it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auckland Council chief executive Phil Wilson said he was “delighted to seal the deal on a long-term future for Auckland Film Studios”. <\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including the possible future of the Mt Maunganui campsite, a notorious murder faces the parole board, and have scientists found a new planet we could live on? (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
“Our task was to secure the sale of Auckland Film Studios and, through a robust process, we’ve delivered for our important screen industry in West Auckland,” said Wilson.<\/p>\n
Xytech, founded by chief executive Stephen Pryor in 1997, is the owner operator of X3 Studios \u2013 a 24,000sq metre studio and production facility based in Wiri, South Auckland. <\/p>\n
The studio opened in 2020 and has since hosted large scale productions including all three seasons of breakout Netflix success and Emmy award-winning Sweet Tooth, and the fifth instalment of the Spartacus series for Lionsgate\/ Starz Entertainment.<\/p>\n
“My earliest connection to Auckland Film Studios goes back to 1992 and in the years since then Xytech has been a major supplier to almost all of the projects that have filmed at AFS,” said Pryor.<\/p>\n
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(Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m excited by the opportunities that acquiring the studios gives us to continue growing AFS and the screen sector for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Xytech is the Southern Hemisphere\u2019s largest lighting supplier to film and high-end television and has supported the industry\u2019s growth through strategic property and technology investments over the last three decades.<\/p>\n
The Auckland Film Studios sale agreement guaranteed the site would remain a studio and the cornerstone of west Auckland’s screen heartland for at least the next 10 years. <\/p>\n
“This aligns with the expectations of the wider council group, Auckland\u2019s elected members, iwi and key members of the screen sector who were engaged as part of the decision-making process,” Wilson said.<\/p>\n
The settlement date for the sale would be February 27, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auckland Council has sold its renowned Auckland Film Studios in what’s been described by the Mayor as “a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,42,409,43,135,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-258506","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}