Reaction to Cinespace purchasing Screen Gems Studio and its impact

WILMINGTON< NC (WWAY) — For four decades, the sprawling movie studio on 23rd street in Wilmington has been part of hundreds of motion picture films, TV shows, and other productions.

Recently, Cinespace Studios purchased the property from EUE/Screen Gems.

Wilmington now joins world-renowned locations like Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, and Germany as places where Cinespace has active stages.

The purchase of Screen Gems adds 152,000 square feet and 10 stages to the company’s production space.

The director of the Wilmington Regional Film Commission, Johnny Griffin, said this will help the city become even more well-known as a production hub for TV and film.

“For the film community in general, film and television, to see a global company like this recognize the value in Wilmington and want to come here and have a presence here, I think speaks volumes and will certainly make our clients, you know, take a second look at Wilmington and realize like okay, if this big company is going in there and buying studios and setting up an operation, then that’s obviously a place we need to be doing business,” Griffin said.

Guy Gaster is the director of the North Carolina Film Office.

He said the purchase signals the state is open for business.

“Their reputation, I think, will be a nice addition to North Carolina and let folks know the quality of experience they can expect when coming into the state for filming,” Gaster said.

We reached out to Cinespace to comment on its purchase of EUE/Screen Gems but have not heard back from them.

For now, it’s unclear what future productions are coming to the Wilmington campus.