Pinewood Group to Exit Atlanta Studios Joint Venture

By Robert Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Pinewood Group is pulling out of its Atlanta facility as it refocuses its international strategy. The group announced Wednesday that it has sold its equity in Pinewood Atlanta Studios to River’s Rock, its joint venture partner in the facility. The joint venture was set up in 2013 with now the second largest purpose-built facility in the U.S.

The studio will continue to operate as a Pinewood facility for up to 18 months, during which time it will retain the Pinewood brand and receive sales and marketing support from the group. Frank Patterson, who joined Pinewood Atlanta Studios as president two years ago, will remain in his role, and the studio said the announcement would have no impact on productions using the facility.

The decision to sell its stake follows Patterson’s move into investment in content companies. ’s focus remains on studio infrastructure.

“As our partners in Atlanta look to expand their focus and invest in content development, we have agreed to sell our equity in the Studios,” said Pinewood Group chairman Paul Golding. “Pinewood will continue to prioritize its core business of providing studio infrastructure, including extensive growth plans in the U.K. and expansion in key international markets.”

Patterson said it was “a great time for the industry in Atlanta,” with the studio having “some exciting investments in the pipeline on the content-creation side of the business.” He praised Pinewood Group for helping to make Atlanta a world leader in film and digitial production.

Pinewood’s continuing strategy to focus on the U.K. and other international markets includes the £500 million ($640 million) expansion of its Shepperton Studios , which will see the facility become the second-largest studio in the world. The proposed expansion received local planning approval in February.