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88-566: Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is an 80 ha (200-acre) studio complex in Leavesden in Watford , Hertfordshire , in the East of England . Formerly known as Leavesden Film Studios and still colloquially known as Leavesden Studios or simply Leavesden , it is a film and media complex owned by Warner Bros. The studios were all converted from an aircraft factory and airfield called Leavesden Aerodrome ,

176-404: A security guard . The sound stage is the central component of a studio lot. Most studios have several; small studios may have as few as one, and large studios have as many as 20 to 30. Movie studios also provide office space for studio executives and production companies, and makeup rooms and rehearsal rooms for talent. If space allows, a studio may have an outside backlot . Finally, there

264-518: A 180-degree uninterrupted horizon, favourable for exterior sets. Following a £110 million refurbishment by Warner Bros., the studios are now one of the largest and most state-of-the-art filmmaking facilities in the world. Though the studios are owned by Warner Bros., all of the studio facilities are available to rent for any production. Since acquiring the site, Warner Bros. has opened a public attraction named Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter , which receives over 6,000 visitors

352-575: A 34-mile (55 km) section of the M1 between Kegworth (J24) and Barlborough (J30). Between 1996 and 1999, the M1 section north of the M62 underwent a major reconstruction and extension to take the M1 on a new route to the A1(M) at Aberford . The new road involved the construction of a series of new junctions, bridges and viaducts to the east of Leeds. When the new section of M1 was completed and opened on 4 February 1999,

440-538: A centre of British aircraft production during World War II . The nearest railway station is King's Langley which is a walking distance of 1.3 miles (2.1 km). The studios contain approximately 50,000 m (540,000 sq ft) of flexible space which includes stage space, one of the largest filtered and heated stage-based water tanks in Europe, production office space, workshops and support buildings, along with an extensive 32 ha (79 acres) backlot which offers

528-671: A contract with the Air Ministry to produce would become known as the Mosquito fast bomber aircraft. Space for the large scale hangars needed to produce the huge number of aeroplanes required was not available at de Havilland's Hatfield Aerodrome . So the Ministry of Supply requisitioned this new site in Leavesden, which was an empty plot of land at the time from the Watford Corporation, and it

616-550: A day at peak times. The site maintains a secure studio space within the same complex. Leavesden Aerodrome was a British airfield created in 1940 by the de Havilland Aircraft Company and the Air Ministry in the village of Leavesden , between Watford and Abbots Langley , in Hertfordshire . Construction began in 1940 after the outbreak of World War II. The de Havilland company, who were based in nearby Hatfield , entered into

704-613: A faster recovery, contributing to the increasing dominance of Hollywood over New York City. The Big 5 By the mid-1920s, the evolution of a handful of American production companies into wealthy motion picture industry conglomerates that owned their own studios, distribution divisions , and theaters , and contracted with performers and other filmmaking personnel led to the sometimes confusing equation of studio with production company in industry slang. Five large companies: RKO Radio Pictures , 20th Century Fox , Paramount Pictures , Warner Bros. , and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer came to be known as

792-634: A further 10,000 m (110,000 sq ft) of office space. The announcements were made after a reception celebrating the Creative Industries, hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron , and attended by WB's CEO Kevin Tsujihara and WB UK's MD Josh Berger . Leavesden's trio of new sound-stages consist of one 3,250 m (35,000 sq ft) building and two 1,575 m (16,950 sq ft) buildings, along with 1,860 m (20,000 sq ft) of adjacent office space which were completed by

880-644: A growing proportion of Hollywood movie revenue, with approximately 70% of total movie revenue coming from international ticket sales; and the Chinese domestic box-office revenue is projected to outpace those of US in 2020. The growth of film studios and filmmaking outside of Hollywood and the US has produced popular international film studio locations such as Hollywood North ( Vancouver and Toronto in Canada ), Bollywood ( Mumbai , India ), and Nollywood ( Lagos , Nigeria ). As

968-569: A more northerly route through the East Midlands , via Leicester , Loughborough , Nottingham to Sheffield , where the M18 splits from the M1 at junction 32 to head to Doncaster . Originally, the M1 was planned to end at Doncaster but it was decided to make what was going to be the " Leeds and Sheffield Spur" into the primary route, with the 11-mile (18 km) section to the A1(M) south of Doncaster given

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1056-578: A motion picture of their own because they are not entertainment companies or motion picture companies; they are companies who sell only studio space. In 1893, Thomas Edison built the first movie studio in the United States when he constructed the Black Maria , a tarpaper-covered structure near his laboratories in West Orange , New Jersey , and asked circus, vaudeville, and dramatic actors to perform for

1144-515: A permanent base in the United Kingdom. Much of the redevelopment involved converting stages A to H into sound stages and equipping all the facilities with the latest fittings a production might require. The refurbished stages were conversions of the original buildings and the runway and control tower from the site's days as an aerodrome remain intact as well as all of the buildings' original structures. The full scale refurbishment and renovation of

1232-529: A permanent behind-the-scenes exhibition of the Harry Potter films . The Studio Tour, opened to the public in early 2012. The grand opening event was attended by many of the Harry Potter film series cast and crew members. Each tour session typically lasting three and a half hours, the studio tour has the capacity to handle up to 8,000 visitors daily. Despite Warner Bros. being the studio behind Harry Potter ,

1320-508: A project that "should be" completed by 1973. Sections to be illuminated included the M1 between junctions 3 and 14, and between junctions 16 and 24. In August 2011, the Highways Agency announced that, despite being converted to Smart Motorway status, the lights will be switched off on stretches of the motorway between junctions 10 (Luton) and 15 (Northampton) without affecting road user safety. The motorway junctions and their approaches, and

1408-554: A proposed ring of urban motorway around the central area. The layout of the Staples Corner junction was originally built in accordance with those plans, although most of the London Ringways Plan had been cancelled by 1973. Around the same time, the section between the then-M10 and junction 5 was widened from the original two lanes to three. On its completion, the M1 acted as a fast link road between London and Birmingham via

1496-493: A seasonal rotation, such as Dark Arts, Magical mischief and Hogwarts in the snow. Some installations like the Wand Choreography Interactive and the inside of the last No. 4 Privet Drive Exterior set have been so popular that they have remained after their respective features have closed. In January 2015, the attraction's first expansion was announced – a new Platform 9¾ section, where visitors are able to board

1584-469: A section of the M1 on either side of junction 11 (north Luton), would have lighting columns replaced and remain lit. All lighting columns from junctions 10 to 14 were removed completely, apart from some on slip roads. An increasing official interest in secondary safety was evident in an announcement in March 1973 that work would begin shortly on erecting "tensioned safety barriers" along the central reservation of

1672-540: A series of films, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . Every one of the Harry Potter films was based at Leavesden Studios over the following ten years. While other productions—almost exclusively other Warner Bros. productions—made partial use of the studios, the site was mostly occupied by Harry Potter ' s permanent standing sets. Indeed, some films, such as Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Sherlock Holmes actually made use of some of

1760-470: A total cost of £294 million. A variable mandatory speed limit system was installed, making this the first smart motorway scheme on the M1. Work to introduce dynamic hard shoulder running on approximately 15 miles (24 km) of motorway between Luton and Milton Keynes (J10-J13) was completed in December 2012, at a total cost of £327 million. This made the hard shoulder available to be opened as

1848-536: A traffic lane where additional capacity was necessary. Modifications were made to junctions 11 and 12, to allow for four lanes running through each junction, and the A421 from junction 13 to the Bedford southern bypass was also upgraded to two lanes each way during this period. The scheme will likely be converted to all lane running at some point in the 2020 decade, alongside all other dynamic hard shoulder running schemes. This

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1936-640: A tram tour of the backlot where films such as Psycho and Back to the Future were once shot. In fall 2019, movie mogul Tyler Perry opened Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta . The studio lot is claimed to be larger than any movie-studio lot in Hollywood. In the 1980s and 1990s, as the cost of professional 16mm film equipment decreased, along with the emergence of non-film innovations such as S-VHS and Mini-DV cameras, many young filmmakers began to make films outside

2024-407: Is a secure compound enclosed by a tall perimeter wall. This is necessary to protect filmmaking operations from unwanted interference from paparazzi and crazed fans of leading movie stars . Movement in and out of the studio lot is normally limited to specific gates (often capped with grand decorative arches), where visitors must stop at a boom barrier and explain the purpose of their visit to

2112-510: Is a proposal to widen the M1 to dual four-lane or dual five-lane between junctions 21 and 21a and construct a new link road between the M1 and the M69 . During this work the Leicester Forest East services would be closed, and possibly relocated. Consultation took place in 2007. As of May 2022 , work on this scheme has still not begun. Following the report of a public inquiry in March 2013,

2200-733: Is a studio "commissary", which is the traditional term in the movie industry for what other industries call a company cafeteria . In addition to these basic components, the largest film studios are full-service enterprises offering the entire range of production and post-production services necessary to create a motion picture, including costumes, props, cameras, sound recording, crafts, sets, lighting, special effects , cutting, editing, mixing, scoring, automated dialogue replacement (ADR), re-recording, and foley . Independent suppliers of all these services and more (e.g., photographic processing labs) are often found in clusters in close proximity to film studios. Nitrate film , manufactured until 1951,

2288-477: Is still visible to southbound traffic approximately 650 yards (590 m) before junction 2, and was maintained until the early 2000s, even though not accessible to traffic. The northbound slip road from the A1 is now partially used as the entrance way to a retail park and was once carried by bridge, but no longer reaches the northbound carriageway, because it is cut off by the motorway continuing south. The final section of

2376-477: The Harry Potter sets since they were sufficiently appropriate for their Victorian setting and tone. During this time, however, it was noted that there were some ways in which the site's facilities might be improved. None of the stages were adequately soundproofed and the WW2 era ceilings had a tendency to leak during rainy weather. One of the more noticeable exterior sets constructed on the Leavesden backlot (outdoors)

2464-551: The M6 . The motorway is 193 miles (311 km) long and was constructed in four phases. Most of the motorway was opened between 1959 and 1968. The southern end was extended in 1977 and the northern end was extended in 1999. There had been plans before the Second World War for a motorway network in the United Kingdom. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu formed a company to build a 'motorway-like road' from London to Birmingham in 1923, but it

2552-454: The patents relevant to movie production at the time. Early movie producers relocated to Southern California to escape patent enforcement, thanks to more lenient local courts and physical distance from company detectives and mob allies. (Edison's patents expired in 1913.) The first movie studio in the Hollywood area was Nestor Studios , opened in 1911 by Al Christie for David Horsley . In

2640-407: The vertically integrated structure of the movie industry constituted an illegal monopoly . This decision, reached after twelve years of litigation, hastened the end of the studio system and Hollywood's "Golden Age". By the 1950s, the physical components of a typical movie studio had become standardized. Since then, a movie studio has usually been housed on a "studio lot." Physically, a studio lot

2728-640: The A1) and the M45 (from junction 17 to the A45 and Coventry ). Parts of the Hertfordshire section were built using steam rollers . The M1 was officially inaugurated from Slip End (close to Luton), celebrated by a large concrete slab on the bridge next to the village, with inscription "London-Yorkshire Motorway – This slab was sealed by the Harold Watkinson M.P. – Minister of Transport – Inauguration Day – 24th March 1958". It

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2816-675: The A421 between M1 junction 13 and the A1 near St Neots, proposals were made to widen the A421 between the M1 junction 13 in Bedfordshire and the Kingston roundabout in Milton Keynes. Exhibitions were held in June 2005 which rejected proposals to re-route the road in favour of widening the current road. In 2005, the project was given an estimated total cost of £33   million. Funding of £23.5   million

2904-837: The A5 (now renumbered here as the A5183 ) and, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the east via the A414, the A6 , which subsequently became part of the M25. A £1.5 million contract was given in May 1958 for the most southerly section, from Aldenham to Beechtrees (the M10 junction), for two lanes of reinforced concrete , to open in November 1959. There was immense flooding on this section in July 1958. Although

2992-483: The A5 north of Dunstable joining the M1 at a new junction 11a south of Chalton. Here, it is intended to join with a proposed Luton Northern Bypass to form a northern bypass for the wider conurbation. The A5-M1 Link aims to alleviate traffic congestion in Houghton Regis and Dunstable, reduce journey times for long-distance traffic travelling through Dunstable and improve the regional economy. The Highways Agency detrunked

3080-536: The A5 through Dunstable when the A5-M1 Link opened to the public in May 2017. As part of the Dunstable Town Centre Masterplan, Central Bedfordshire Council built the 2.9 km (1.8 miles) Woodside Link to connect the new junction 11a to the industrial areas of Dunstable and Houghton Regis. Most of the road opened to traffic in autumn 2016 with the remaining section connecting to junction 11a. There

3168-630: The Big Five, the majors, or the Studios in trade publications such as Variety , and their management structures and practices collectively came to be known as the studio system . The Little 3 Although they owned few or no theaters to guarantee sales of their films, Universal Pictures , Columbia Pictures , and United Artists also fell under these rubrics, making a total of eight generally recognized major studios. United Artists, although its controlling partners owned not one but two production studios during

3256-562: The Golden Age, had an often-tenuous hold on the title of major and operated mainly as a backer and distributor of independently produced films. Smaller studios operated simultaneously with the majors. These included operations such as Republic Pictures , active from 1935, which produced films that occasionally matched the scale and ambition of the larger studio, and Monogram Pictures , which specialized in series and genre releases. Together with smaller outfits such as PRC TKO and Grand National,

3344-644: The Leeds South Eastern Motorway section of the M1 was re-designated as the M621, and the junctions were given new numbers: M621 junctions 4 to 7. The M1 was extended south towards London from its original starting point at junction 5, in three stages. The first stage, opened in 1966, took the motorway south-east, parallel to the A41 , to meet the A5 at junction 4 south of Elstree . The second phase continued east to Scratchwood ( London Gateway Services , which occupies

3432-589: The M1 was opened to junction 1 at Staples Corner in 1977. There the motorway meets the North Circular Road (A406) at a grade separated junction and roundabout. Unrealised plans from the 1960s would have seen the motorway continue through the junction on an elevated roadway to end at West Hampstead , where it would have met the North Cross Route , the northern section of the London Motorway Box ,

3520-536: The M1, the right one going over the A1/A41 junction beneath to rejoin the A1 northbound. Junction 2 is about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of the original junction 3. Before the completion of junction 2, southbound traffic left the motorway via a slip road which passed around the back of the now disused Homebase and under the A41/A1 Mill Hill Bypass, and looped round to join it at Fiveways Interchange. This slip road

3608-463: The M6. It also provided a link to London Luton Airport for those regions, and its proximity to the site of the new town of Milton Keynes (designated in 1967) meant that it was soon providing a vital transport link to another major area. In 2006, plans were published for the widening of 91 miles (146 km) from Leicester through to Leeds (junctions 21–42) to four lanes each way. Escalating costs across

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3696-634: The Secretary of State for Transport announced on 18 July 2013 that work to update the Catthorpe Interchange at junction 19, between the M1 motorway, M6 motorway and A14 road , close to Catthorpe , would go ahead. Work on the £191   million three-layer interchange started in January 2014. The scheme was fully opened to traffic in December 2016. In conjunction with the M1 widening schemes and dualling of

3784-613: The camera. He distributed these movies at vaudeville theaters, penny arcades, wax museums, and fairgrounds. The first film serial , What Happened to Mary , was released by the Edison company in 1912. The pioneering Thanhouser movie studio was founded in New Rochelle, New York in 1909 by American theatrical impresario Edwin Thanhouser . The company produced and released 1,086 movies between 1910 and 1917, successfully distributing them around

3872-476: The craft to their final destinations. The runway and control tower still remain to this day, even after two major renovations, in an effort to preserve the site's history. The runway is now the main road through the complex and the tower is currently an observation lounge. After the war, the aerodrome was purchased outright by de Havilland, who themselves had a succession of owners in the following decades, including Hawker Siddeley from 1959, but ultimately they and

3960-403: The early 1990s, Britain's manufacturing industry was in decline and Rolls-Royce had sold their interests in the site and transferred all work to their Bristol facility. Unable to find a new owner, by 1994 Leavesden Aerodrome was left disused and all but abandoned. The following units were here at some point: In 1994, Eon Productions ' James Bond film GoldenEye was to be the next film in

4048-562: The east of Leeds. With the M62 and M621 , the M1 forms a ring of motorways around the south of Leeds. In 1972, an extension of the M1 was opened into central Leeds as the Leeds South Eastern Motorway, where it met the Leeds South Western Motorway (M621) coming north-east from the M62 at junction 3. In July 1972, the then UK Minister for Transport Industries, John Peyton , announced that 86 miles (138 km) of UK motorway particularly prone to fog would benefit from lighting in

4136-422: The end of 2014. On the same day the filming of live-action The Legend of Tarzan got underway at the studio. Following the refurbishments, the studios are now one of the largest and most state-of-the-art secure filmmaking facilities in the world. Almost twenty years after the complex was converted from aerodrome to film studios—and over a year since the completion of work on the newly refurbished studios—the site

4224-623: The existing 23-mile (37 km) section of the M1 between Milton Keynes and Northampton (J13-J16) into an all-lane-running (ALR) smart motorway consisting of four lanes running in both directions without a hard shoulder, with the project's cost being £373   million. Construction began in January 2018, with the scheme opening in stages until 9 March 2023, when the project was fully complete. The speed limit between M1 junctions 33 to 34, near Rotherham, has been reduced to 60 mph, to reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide . The plans were to be implemented before October 2020, and as of August 2023

4312-466: The facilities include: The footage used for theme parks that made use of the facilities include: The studios have also been used for various music videos and television commercials, most notably support for the video for Jamiroquai 's " Deeper Underground ". Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is a public attraction in Leavesden Hertfordshire, England . It is

4400-717: The film industry had once hoped—movie studios were increasingly being used to produce programming for the burgeoning medium. Some midsize film companies, such as Republic Pictures , eventually sold their studios to TV production concerns , which were eventually bought by larger studios, such as the American Broadcasting Company which was purchased by Disney in 1996. With the growing diversification of studios into such fields as video games , television stations , broadcast syndication , television , theme parks , home video and publishing , they have become multi-national corporations. International markets account for

4488-522: The films when they were no longer being used. The tour's layout and overall presentation was designed by the Los Angeles -based Thinkwell Group in close collaboration with Warner Bros. and the actual filmmakers, including Production Designer Stuart Craig , Set Dresser Stephenie McMillan , Creature Designer Nick Dudman and Special Effects Supervisor John Richardson . It only includes sets, props and costumes that were actually created for or used in

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4576-446: The largest factory in the world. The two planes were both critical successes for Britain during the conflict. Due to the high priority placed on aircraft production, large numbers of workers were drafted with little experience or training in aircraft production, with over half the workforce eventually being female. As part of constructing the aircraft factory an airstrip was created, first so the planes could be tested and later to deliver

4664-464: The location of the missing junction 3, from where an unbuilt spur would have connected to the A1 at Stirling Corner to the north-east). The M1 then runs south alongside the Midland Main Line towards Hendon , where it meets the A1 again at junction 2 via a tightly curved flyover section. These flyovers connecting from the A1 were originally both for northbound traffic: the left one as the on-ramp to

4752-457: The making of Harry Potter and is now home to many of the series' sets, props and costumes. It was opened to the public in early 2012. The first film to start shooting at the newly refurbished studios was Edge of Tomorrow . Though the studios are privately owned, the shooting spaces are available to rent for any production. On 30 June 2014, Warner Bros. announced the expansion of the studio, building three new state-of-the-art stages and adding

4840-468: The minor studios filled the demand for B movies and are sometimes collectively referred to as Poverty Row . The Big Five's ownership of movie theaters was eventually opposed by eight independent producers, including Samuel Goldwyn , David O. Selznick , Walt Disney , Hal Roach , and Walter Wanger . In 1948, the federal government won a case against Paramount in the Supreme Court , which ruled that

4928-754: The original carriages behind the Hogwarts Express steam engine used in the films. The setup includes the locomotive GWR 4900 Class 5972 Olton Hall (dressed as 5972 Hogwarts Express ) and the British Rail Mark 1 train that appeared in the films, brought to life by John Richardson 's special effects team. Finally a new green screen experience illustrates what working on the films is like from an actor's point of view. This section opened in late March 2015. The tour in Warner Bros. Studios Burbank has been renamed Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood (previously it

5016-456: The production facilities were completed and the studios reopened to film and television work in 2012. As part of this redevelopment Warner Bros. also created two entirely new soundstages, J & K, to house a permanent public exhibition named the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter , creating 300 new jobs in the local area. Currently the whole attraction is dedicated to

5104-500: The production of the Harry Potter film series. Sets like the Great Hall, Dumbledore's Office, Diagon Alley , the Ministry of Magic , Gryffindor Common Room and Boys' Dormitory, Hagrid's Hut and a 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts Castle. Since opening in 2012, TripAdvisor has reported The Making of Harry Potter as the highest-rated attraction in the world every year since. Warner Bros. has continued to put on special features following

5192-576: The route. The road corridor includes a separate cycleway . The upgrade work for this final phase of the plan, the section running from junction 13 to Eagle Farm roundabout, started in September 2018 and was completed in December 2020. Work began on the 10-mile (16 km) section between the M25 and Luton (J6A-J10) in 2006 and opened in 2009, which included the construction of new parallel collector-distributor lanes between junctions 7 and 8. The M10 spur

5280-425: The same year, another 15 independents settled in Hollywood. Other production companies eventually settled in the Los Angeles area in places such as Culver City , Burbank , and what would soon become known as Studio City in the San Fernando Valley . The stronger early public health response to the 1918 flu epidemic by Los Angeles compared to other American cities reduced the number of cases there and resulted in

5368-399: The separate motorway number M18. From junction 32, the motorway passes Sheffield, Rotherham , Barnsley and Wakefield , reaching the original end of the motorway at (the original) Junction 44 to the east of Leeds. There were plans to route the M1 from just south of junction 42, where it interchanges with the M62 , round the west of Leeds to the A1 at Dishforth . The chosen route passes to

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5456-524: The series. Pinewood Studios , their traditional home studio, was fully booked with other productions, not being prepared for the series' unexpected return (production had been delayed for several years thanks to legal issues between MGM and Eon Productions). Facing little time to find a space in which they could build the number of large scale sets required, the production discovered the unoccupied Leavesden. The wide, tall and open aircraft hangars were uniquely well suited to conversion into film stages. Eon leased

5544-470: The site for the duration of their shoot and went about gutting the factories, turning them into stages, workshops and offices – in short a working film studio . This process is shown on the 2006 DVD's special features. Members of the production crew, impressed by the enormous size of the filmmaking complex they suddenly had to themselves, jokingly called Leavesden " Cubbywood " after Eon's long serving producer Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli . Leavesden Studios, as

5632-403: The site was rebranded by its owners, quickly became popular after filming of GoldenEye was completed. A succession of major feature films made use of the site; in 1997, the first of the Star Wars prequels, The Phantom Menace , and later Tim Burton 's Sleepy Hollow . By the year 2000, Heyday Films had acquired use of the site on behalf of Warner Bros. for what would be the first in

5720-423: The site were acquired by Rolls-Royce who continued production and design of helicopter engines. Under Rolls-Royce ownership the RTM322 engine for the UK Apache, Merlin and NH90 helicopters was designed, developed and produced at Leavesden as a joint venture with Turbomeca of France. The airfield was also used by commercial small business aircraft as the field is close to both the M1 and M25 motorways. However, by

5808-407: The studio as a permanent European base, the first studio to do so since Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s. By November 2010, Warner Bros. completed its purchase of Leavesden Studios and announced plans to invest more than £100 million into the site they had occupied for over ten years, rebranding it Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. The studios make Warner Bros. the only Hollywood film studio with

5896-469: The studio system. Filmmakers and producers such as Mike Judge , Adam Sandler , Jim Jarmusch , Robert Rodriguez , Steven Soderbergh , Quentin Tarantino , Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater made films that pushed boundaries in ways the studios were then reluctant to do. In response to these films, many distributed by mini-studios like Miramax , the majors created their own in-house mini-studios meant to focus on edgier, independent content. Focus Features

5984-542: The studios increased in size they began to rely on production companies like J. J. Abrams ' Bad Robot to handle many of the creative and physical production details of their feature films. Instead, the studios transformed into financing and distribution entities for their films (generally made by their affiliated production companies). With the decreasing cost of CGI and visual effects , many studios sold large chunks of their once-massive studio spaces or backlots to private real-estate developers. Century City in Los Angeles

6072-422: The tour and the studios, viewing the props and costumes from Christopher Nolan 's Batman films , before conducting the site's inauguration . On 10 July 2019, a fire broke out in one of the studio's sets, and would take responders 15 hours to extinguish. A set for the HBO television series Avenue 5 was damaged in the fire. Films that made use of the facilities include: Television shows that made use of

6160-402: The tour is not styled as a theme park, due to the fact that Warner Bros. sold the licence to do so to Universal Studios . Though the standard tour is self-guided, various guided tours are available at an additional cost. As early as 2001, on the heels of the success of the first film , Warner Bros. planned to build an attraction dedicated to the series in place and so began storing items from

6248-500: The whole of the Highways Agency programme, including the M1 project, on which costs had risen to £5.1 billion, as well as increasing opposition to major road expansion, as well as criticisms by the Transport Select Committee and the National Audit Office , led to wide-ranging re-assessments of the Agency's project costs. Widening was scaled back to the junctions 6A to 10 scheme that was already in progress, and from Nottingham and Mansfield (junctions 25–28), and hard shoulder running

6336-466: The whole of the first section opened in 1959, it was built in two parts, with the northern part (junctions 10 to 18) being built by John Laing and the southern part (the St Albans Bypass) being built by Tarmac Construction . The continuation of the motorway from junction 18 towards Yorkshire was carried out as a series of extensions between 1965 and 1968. Diverging from the A5, the motorway takes

6424-568: The world. In the early 1900s, companies started moving to Los Angeles, California . Although electric lights were by then widely available, none were yet powerful enough to adequately expose film; the best source of illumination for motion picture production was natural sunlight. Some movies were shot on the roofs of buildings in Downtown Los Angeles . Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company , based in New York City, controlled almost all

6512-725: Was a further 26 years before the Special Roads Act 1949 was passed, which allowed for the construction of roads limited to specific vehicle classifications, and in the 1950s, the country's first motorways were given the government go-ahead. The first section of motorway was the Preston Bypass in Lancashire , now part of the M6 motorway , which opened in 1958. The M1 was Britain's first full-length motorway and opened in 1959. The early M1 had no speed limits , crash barriers , or lighting, and had soft shoulders rather than hard. As there

6600-554: Was a row of ten houses (five per side) along a street, which was created for the Harry Potter series to represent Privet Drive . On 21 March 2010, there was a fire on one of the Hogwarts sets during filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at Leavesden Studios. Not much of the set was badly damaged. In 2010, as the final Harry Potter film was nearing completion, Warner Bros. announced their intention to purchase

6688-513: Was because a Government review into smart motorways found dynamic hard shoulder running was too confusing for drivers, leading to plans to convert all dynamic hard shoulders into permanent running lanes. Work to widen the 15-mile (24 km) section from Nottingham to Mansfield (J25-J28) to four lanes each way began in October 2007 and was completed in May 2010, at a cost of £340 million. A 50 mph limit, enforced by average speed cameras ,

6776-473: Was built as a motorway because it inevitably led to the M1, but as non-motorway traffic could now travel between the A414 at Hemel Hempstead and Park Street Roundabout without having to access the M1, the M10 was downgraded to an A road , and designated as part of the A414 to allow for this. The work also included widening or replacement of 11 underbridges on one or both carriageways, and replacing seven overbridges at

6864-490: Was confirmed by the government for these works, as part of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership "Local Growth Deal". As part of the government's pinch point reduction programme, work commenced in 2014 on the A421 in Milton Keynes to improve the Kingston roundabout, and dual the section from it to (near) the Bedfordshire border, with the construction of two new roundabouts on

6952-510: Was created by Universal Pictures and Fox Searchlight was created by 20th Century Fox for this purpose. M1 Motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds , where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford , to connect to Newcastle . It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston Bypass , which later became part of

7040-572: Was developed into the complex that it is today. The construction was enormously expensive so parts of the site were leased to the London Aircraft Production Group and The Second Aircraft Group. Under Handley Page , another Hertfordshire -based aeroplane manufacturer contracted to the Air Ministry, these groups produced the Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber. As a result, by the end of the war Leavesden Airfield was, by volume,

7128-435: Was highly flammable, and sets and backlots were and still are very flammable, which is why film studios built in the early-to-mid 20th century have water towers to facilitate firefighting . Water towers "somewhat inexplicably" evolved into "a most potent symbol ... of movie studios in general." Halfway through the 1950s, with television proving to be a lucrative enterprise not destined to disappear any time soon—as many in

7216-404: Was imposed for the period of construction, but it proved to be so effective that a permanent variable mandatory speed limit system was installed. In 2023, following a previous debate on the issue, local MPs Mark Fletcher and Lee Anderson called on the government to upgrade junction 28, describing it as a "pinch point" disadvantaging local residents and businesses. National Highways converted

7304-533: Was known as the Warner Bros. Studios VIP Tour ). Warner has altered the tour, offering more facilities and options to visitors. The latest expansion opening in Summer 2023 is the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo 51°41′36″N 0°25′11″W  /  51.69333°N 0.41972°W  / 51.69333; -0.41972 Film studio There are also independently owned studio facilities, who have never produced

7392-571: Was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on 26 April 2013. On their visit, they were accompanied by the Duke's brother Prince Harry and J. K. Rowling (who had been unable to attend the tour's grand opening the year before), amongst other guests. Several hundred beneficiaries of supported charities were given invitations to the Studio Tour on the day of the visit. The royal entourage visited both

7480-399: Was once part of the 20th Century Fox backlot, which was among the largest and most famous of the studio lots. In most cases, portions of the backlots were retained and are available for rental by various film and television productions. Some studios offer tours of their backlots , while Universal Pictures allows visitors to its adjacent Universal Studios Hollywood theme park to take

7568-617: Was relocated, during widening works in 2007–08, to the eastern side of junction 10. This section of the M1 broadly follows the route of the A5 north-west. It started at the Watford Bypass ( A41 ), which runs south-east to meet the A1 at Apex corner, and ended on the A5 at Crick. The M10 spur motorway connected the M1 to the North Orbital Road ( A405 / A414 , a precursor of the M25 ) where it also met

7656-631: Was then little traffic, London musicians such as the Rolling Stones were known to speed up to take advantage of the Watford Gap Motorway Services Area , open 24 hours at a time when pubs closed at 11 p.m. The first section of the motorway, between junction 5 ( Watford ) and junction 18 ( Crick / Rugby ), opened on 2 November 1959, together with the motorway's two spurs, the M10 (from junction 7 to south of St Albans originally connecting to

7744-409: Was to be used for other sections. Many later developments, including smart motorway schemes, have been made to the M1, and these are detailed below. Recent concerns about accidents and deaths on the former hard shoulder have led to a halt and review into extending all lane running which reported in July 2021. The A5-M1 Link (Dunstable Northern Bypass) is a two-lane dual carriageway running east from

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