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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912; 113 years ago (1912), in Germany |
| Headquarters | Potsdam-Babelsberg,Brandenburg, Germany |
Key people |
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| Owner | TPG Real Estate Partners |
Number of employees | 92 (2017)  |
| Website | www |
Babelsberg Film Studio (German:Filmstudio Babelsberg) (also known asStudio Babelsberg), located inPotsdam-Babelsberg outsideBerlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world,[1][2][3] producing films since 1912. With a total area of about 460,000 square metres (5,000,000 sq ft) and a studio area of about 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft), it isEurope's largest film studio.[4][5]
Hundreds of films, includingFritz Lang'sMetropolis andJosef von Sternberg'sThe Blue Angel were filmed there. More recent productions includeV for Vendetta,Captain America: Civil War,Æon Flux,The Bourne Ultimatum,Valkyrie,Inglourious Basterds,Cloud Atlas,The Grand Budapest Hotel,The Hunger Games,Isle of Dogs andThe Matrix Resurrections.
Today, Studio Babelsberg remains operational mainly for feature film productions. It also acts as producer on German productions and co-producer on international high-budget productions. Since January 2022 it has been owned byTPG Real Estate Partners (TREP) and Filmbetriebe Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB), and promoted as part of the platformCinespace Film Studios.[6]
In 1911, the film production company Deutsche Bioscope bought the current site in Babelsberg and built its first glasshouse film studio (early studios designed to take advantage of natural light) in Neubabelsberg. The company had been originally formed byJules Greenbaum in 1899 and incorporated in 1902.[7][8] As his business increased, Greenbaum made a deal with the chemist Carl Moritz Schleussner of the photochemicals firm Schleussner AG inFrankfurt/Main. Carl Schleussner had been involved since 1896 in producing negative film stock forRöntgen photography soon after its discovery.[9] In February 1908 Carl Schleussner bought a majority share in Deutsche Bioscop as a film manufacturing, duplicating and sales operation, for a two thirds share of 140,000marks, with one third provided by Jules Greenbaum and his brother Max. Ownership of Deutsche Bioscop was transferred to Schleussner AG and registered on 27 February 1908: Schleussner bought out the Greenbaums' remaining share of Deutsche Bioscop in 1909.[10]
The first filming in Babelsberg began as early as February 1912 forThe Dance of Death by Danish directorUrban Gad. In 1920 the Deutsche Bioscop Gesellschaft merged withErich Pommer's Decla-Film GmbH to form "Decla-Bioscop". In 1928, Decla-Bioscop merged withUniversum Film AG (Ufa) which had been founded in 1917. This company built the large studio (which is now known as the "Marlene Dietrich Halle") in 1926 for the major film production ofMetropolis byFritz Lang.
The "German Expressionism in film" is closely connected with Babelsberg.
CameramanKarl Freund invented the so-called "Unchained camera technique" while working on the filmThe Last Laugh (1924), directed byFriedrich Wilhelm Murnau.
Numerous filmmakers such asMarlene Dietrich,Alfred Hitchcock andBilly Wilder learned at that time in Babelsberg and began their world careers here.
Spaceflight owes directorFritz Lang and the film team of the science fiction silent filmWoman in the Moon (1929), completely made in the Babelsberg studios, a famous achievement: thecountdown was born in Babelsberg.[11]
The first sound stage in Europe, the "Tonkreuz", was built during 1929 in Babelsberg, to make use of theTri-Ergon sound-on-film process to which Ufa acquired the rights. Ufa's first successful full-sound filmMelodie des Herzens /Melody of the Heart withWilly Fritsch was shot in the "Tonkreuz" and in Hungary in 1929,[12] although this was followed in April 1930 by the premiere ofThe Blue Angel (which was made at Babelsberg)[13] byJosef von Sternberg, withMarlene Dietrich andEmil Jannings in the main roles.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Babelsberg was famous for its music andrevue films, such asCongress Dances (1931),La Habanera (1937),The Woman of My Dreams (1944).
From 1933 to 1945, around 1,000 feature films were made in the studios and on the studio lot. Under the direction of Hitler's propaganda chiefJoseph Goebbels, the studio churned out hundreds of films includingLeni Riefenstahl's openly propagandisticTriumph of the Will (1935). The virulently anti-Semitic propaganda filmJud Süss (The Jew Süss) (1940), was also made at Babelsberg.[14]
On May 17, 1946, theDEFA (Deutsche Film AG) was established in theSoviet occupation zone of Germany and Babelsberg Studio was made its headquarters the next year. DEFA became the state-owned film production company inEast Germany, producing over 800 feature films, including 150 children's films until 1990. In addition, over 600 films were made for television from 1959 to 1990. The DEFA period was honored by a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) inNew York City in 2005.
After the fall of theBerlin Wall, theTreuhand took over the responsibility for the privatisation of the former DEFA. In August 1992, the Treuhandanstalt sold the formerDEFA film studios in Babelsberg to the French group Compagnie Générale des Eaux (later absorbed intoVivendi Universal). Over the following 12 years the company invested around €500 million updating the studio's infrastructure.
In July 2004, Vivendi sold Studio Babelsberg to the investment company FBB (Filmbetriebe Berlin Brandenburg GmbH), which hasCarl Woebcken andChristoph Fisser as shareholders. In spring of 2005, the restructured studio presented an initial public offering and began trading on the free market.
2007 was the most profitable year since the studio's privatization in 1992 – 12 feature films were shot at Studio Babelsberg, among themValkyrie withTom Cruise,The International withClive Owen andThe Reader withKate Winslet.
In 2008, Studio Babelsberg and Hollywood producerJoel Silver formed a strategic alliance to produce feature films from the Dark Castle production slate at the world's oldest film studio.
International co-productions made in Babelsberg includeQuentin Tarantino'sInglourious Basterds (released 2009),Roman Polanski'sThe Ghost Writer (2010), Brian De Palma'sPassion (2012),George Clooney'sThe Monuments Men (2014),The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (2014) andCaptain America: Civil War (2016).
In 2019, the love storyDream Factory conquered the European cinema screens. The starting point is true events: the construction of theBerlin Wall and the closure of the German-German border on August 13, 1961, brings the international co-productions to a close, affects the film studio and is the stroke of fate for the two main characters, a German extra and a French dance double, who are separated by the events. With this, the Babelsberg film studio was working on a part of its own story.
Recent co-productions of Studio Babelsberg includeThe Matrix Resurrections (2021),Uncharted (2022) andRetribution (2022).
Recent TV series areBabylon Berlin (2016–2022),Dark (2017–2020) and1899 (2021/2022).
In 2021, the largest permanent virtual production stage in Europe was set up in Studio Babelsberg for the major European Netflix production1899.[15] The studio is operated by Dark Bay GmbH, which is managed by Baran Bo Odar and Jantje Friese. Netflix and the investment bank of the state of Brandenburg financed the project. In order to raise the necessary funds, Netflix has committed to realizing several projects in the Dark Bay studio in the coming years. The Brandenburg Ministry of Economic Affairs funded the project with around two million euros.[16]
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