Major new Hollywood studio to be built in Greece

Nu Boyana Film Studios, the Bulgarian production hub, is set to build a major new studio facility spanning 83,000 square meters in the town of Thermi, just outside Thessaloniki, in Northern Greece.

This is a huge boost both for Greece and international producers looking to shoot in the country, especially following the recent rise in the country’s cash rebate from 25% to 35%, and the prospect of a 30% tax credit to come in 2020.

The announcement was made today by the minister of digital governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, at a press conference, also attended by the stakeholders involved, Central Macedonia Region, the National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME) and investing company Nu Boyana Film Studios, an affiliate of Millennium Films, one of the longest-running independent film companies in Hollywood.

“With Greece announcing its tax rebates, we started looking a lot more seriously at what opportunities are there,” said Nu Boyana Film Studios CEO Yariv Lerner recently. “We realized it’s a great country with great locations, but not much infrastructure.”

Just three hours from Sofia by car, Thessaloniki is ideally located to move equipment from the original Nu Boyana facility, and an international airport makes it easy to bring talent into the country. 

This is “an investment worth €20m euros by Nu Boyana Hellenic, which will employ at least one hundred people in permanent job positions,” said Central Macedonia regional governor Apostolos Tzitzikostas, who went on to say that “our aim is to render Thessaloniki the heart of audio-visual productions across southeastern Europe.”

“This will be the country’s first region to acquire a fully functional film studio,” added Tzitzikostas.

Nu Boyana Studios representatives said that they would “await the explanatory circular on tax reductions, while the start of operations is scheduled for a year from the issuing of building permits.”

The studio is the latest investment by Nu Boyana in Greece following its decision to partnership with EKOME last year to train young Greek film professionals in Sofia.

 Homepage image: Nu Boyana Studios