Timed to coincide with the filmmakers' scrums of the Sundance Film Festival, a handful of Utah industry types on Tuesday announced plans for the Sky of Dreams Ranch, a $400 million film studio, adjoined by endangered animal-care facilities and a Native American center.
Celerity Investments, a South Jordan real estate company, is working to secure a 1,700-acre site, a former golf course, located within 10 minutes of the St. George Airport for the studio, expected to be built on 50 acres of a 1,700-acre multi-use site, said co-owners Wayne Aston and Gary Wilson.
Launching the project will be the early summer filming of "Sky of Dreams," the first film in "The Mystical World of Nebe," a fantasy/adventure trilogy based on the story of Mac J. Adamson. Each film will have a $85 million budget, and if completed as planned, the series would be the largest project shot and in the state, said
Lee Steadman, a Utah-based location manager.
Steadman said one model for the Sky of Dreams ranch concept is Peter Jackson's model of filming the "Lord of the Rings" movies. while building studio facilities in New Zealand. The production studio would include sound stages, animation and special effects facilities, screening rooms, and a back lot with set design services. "We're not in a hurry. We want to do it right," said Steadman, executive producer of Next Entertainment, which he described as the umbrella company at the ranch, "like Disney."
The first movie, slated to be completed by Spring 2009, requires a small town set, "kind of a little Mayberry," circa 1963, which could be remodeled into a Western town.
"It's needed here," Steadman said.
— Ellen Fagg