Italy's Cinecittà Studios backlot expansion plans halted

Italy’s Cinecittà Studios is no longer pressing on with plans for major expansion.

The Rome production facility was originally set to acquire a 76-acre plot of land adjacent to the studios with plans to build eight additional sound stages and to expand its backlot.

Per our sister site, Screendaily, the land was owned by Italian state development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), which agreed to sell it to Cinecittà in 2021. However, the deal is no longer progressing owing to the fact that two acres of the plot have been found to contain archaeological remains.

“We will now stay within the border of the ancient Cinecittà,” Chiara Sbargia, the president of Cinecittà, told Screen.

The original deal would have made CDP an investor in Cinecittà. Sbargia said the leadership of the bank had changed since the deal was first agreed, and that the bank was no longer partial to investing in state-owned entities. Cinecittà’s sole shareholder is the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Screen added that Cinecittà has 19 sound stages and is Italy’s largest film production facility. In 2021, Cinecittà secured a €300m loan from the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery fund (Pnrr) to expand the studios.

The studio initially planned to invest part of the money on five new studios within its existing site, as well as adding another eight studios on the CDP-owned land adjacent to the studios.

Cinecittà will now prioritise building the five new studios within its site and focus on refurbishing its existing studios.

The landmark studio is currently home to a number of productions including: Roland Emmerich’s gladiator series Those About To Die for Peacock which has a predominantly Italian and European cast. It is also hosting Luca Guadagnino’s Fremantle- backed adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ Queer, starring Daniel Craig, and Joe Wright’s Mussolini series M which is being produced by Sky Studios and Fremantle-backed company The Apartment in collaboration with Pathé.