Cape Town is fast becoming THE place to be seen and work by many international Rock Stars and Movie A-list Celebrities, with many new Hollywood block-busters being filmed here, while music
mega-stars are flocking here to perform in our new spacious Green Point stadium.
The recent opening of the ultra-modern and
high-tech Cape Town Film Studios is the largest movie filming studios in the
southern hemisphere (costing R5billion to build) and is attracting many American film studios with large
budgets to bring their projects here.
The 4 huge film studios cover 17,000 sqm,
while located right next door are many film related companies offering
everything from - set production, 3D film studio (where the 1st 3D
movie filmed in Africa finished production just recently – Dredd – the follow-up
to Judge Dredd); costume design; editing suites; make-up; special effects;
there are even luxury houses and accommodation for stars to chill-out, do some
office work, rehearse their lines or cook a meal while waiting for their time
to be on the movie filming set – and a whole lot more are all here in the
purpose built huge complex on 200 hectares.
The list of recent movies filmed in Cape
Town is most impressive – Halle Berry was here in late 2010 to film the shark
movie “The Dark Tide” / “Dredd” finished filming it’s 3-D action epic in Feb
2011 and cost R245million to produce / Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds were
here in March and April 2011 filming “Safe House” – while the next James Bond
is predicted to start filming here in November and December 2011, especially as
the 25th Bond book is set in Cape Town and scheduled for a Cinema
release date of October 2012.
Before that we had - Clint Eastwood's “Invictus” in 2009 with Matt Damon and
Morgan Freeman / the sci-fi “District 9” in 2009 – the follow-up “Elysium” is
predicted for a late 2012 production and will co-star Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley and Jodie
Foster / “Flashbacks
of a Fool” in 2008 with Daniel Craig / “10,000 B.C.”
in 2008 / HBO's Iraq-war series “Generation
Kill” in 2008 / “Blood Diamond”
in 2006 with Leonardo DiCaprio / “Lord
of War” in 2005 with Nicolas Cage………..
"There are only a few places on the
planet that can handle this kind of movie," says Dredd's British co-producer Andrew
MacDonald, whose credits include Trainspotting
and The Beach. "Cape Town
South Africa is comparable to any of
them."
Nico Dekker, CEO of Cape Town Film Studios, is quoted as saying – ‘There is a
direct correlation between the film industry and the tourism industry. Studies
have shown that for every unit of money spent on making a film in a country
there is a 2½ times impact factor on the larger economy. So for a film like
Dredd, the R100 million ($12.5million) spent has a knock-on effect of R250
million ($31million) into the South African economy.’
All great news
Indian Bollywood movie stars utterly love
Cape Town and South Africa too, after the IPL cricket tournament was held here
in 2009, which brought loads of Indian celebrities and cricket fans here for
the 1st time and they keep coming back for more holidays and
business visits – such as – Anil Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Suneil
Shetty and Karina Kapoor.
South
Africa produced 23 films last
year, with an estimated budget spend in South Africa of $3millions each;
which directly creates 1,200 jobs and in-directly creates another 4000 jobs
International Music Stars can now perform
at the impressive Green Point Stadium, with recent concerts by Coldplay, Seal,
U2, Neil Diamond, Irish rock band The Script, Kylie Minogue, James Blunt,
Roxette, Justin Bieger, German rock band Rammstein, Earth, Wind and Fire,
Esperance Spalding, George Benson and Fatboy Slim…………
And that’s not all – many international
famous Rock Stars and Movie Celebrities are flocking to Cape Town for holidays with their families.
There are many reasons for this, with obviously our massive amount of
incredible activities, great restaurants, amazing wine regions, magnificent
scenery and Safari wildlife being large attractions, but it is also the fact
that famous Stars do not get hounded and pestered by the annoying paparazzi
following their every move, meaning that they can relax fully and get on with
enjoying being normal humans :-)))
These high-profile visitors are not only
spending a lot of money on their holidays here by staying at luxury 5 star
locations, but by regularly updating their Twitter, Facebook and Blog pages
their fans are finding out that Cape Town is amazing and are equally following
in their foot-steps by coming to Cape Town to see where their idols have filmed
movies or played their concerts.
Each set of Stars also have large
entourages of crew-workers and assistants following them and they also require
accommodation, places to eat and enjoy the attractions that Cape Town has to offer
Many Stars love Cape Town so much that they decide to buy
holiday homes here, with Brad Pitt and Elton John to name but afew, each owning
plush mansions on the Atlantic seaboard.
Check out some of the Youtube video clips
of forthcoming Cape Town
filmed movies at –
Safe House - www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWzTOoOpFa8
ENJOY
As ever we are all over the internet with loads of jovial and informative natterings – so why not check us out at –
Percy Tours Business Page on Facebook
Percy Tours on Twitter
Percy Tours Youtube videos
Until next time, cheers
Percy at Percy Tours, Hermanus, South Africa.
www.percytours.com
Designer Tours (& transfers) of Hermanus, Cape Town and the whole Western Cape region.
