Warner Bros.' Las Vegas film studio proposal loses its developer

Posted: January 9, 2025, 06:06 pm.

Last updated: January 9, 2025, 06:13 pm.

There's no one to build one of the two major Hollywood studios proposed for Las Vegas now.

With Bircher Development of Newport Beach, California no longer set to build Warner Bros. Studios Nevada, the studio giant has proposed building a 34-acre film complex at the Harry Reid Research and Technology Park at UNLV. The deal's dissolution was first reported nevada independent,

Warner Bros. and rival Sony Pictures Entertainment both had proposals to compete for the $190 million in annual transferable Nevada film tax credits that were promised in a bill that attempted to increase Nevada's tax credit from its current $10 million. Does.

That bill, SB 496 – introduced by Nevada Senator Roberta Lang (D-LV) during the 2023 legislative session – failed to make it to a floor vote and the legislature will not meet in 2024. (It meets only during odd-numbered years.) However, Lange said she would pursue the bill during the upcoming state legislative session, which begins Feb. 3.

Although the proposed film credits could cost the state $2 billion, proponents of the bill argue that they could generate up to $55 billion in revenue over the next 20 years.

warner tussle

Warner Bros. says it still intends to build its own studio if the state extends promised tax credits, and it is actively seeking a new developer for the job. According to Warner Bros.' original proposal, the company was promised $8.5 billion over 17 years.

“We are committed to building Warner Bros. Studios Nevada, and are excited about the opportunity to bring great jobs, workforce and economic development and educational opportunities to the state,” a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

However, the originally promised tax credit may no longer be on the table. Although Lang and Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, (D-LV), are both expected to introduce new versions of SB 496 this year, each is expected to offer less money in state tax credits.

So it remains to be seen how interested each studio is still in making Las Vegas, as Mark Wahlberg optimistically put it in 2022, “Hollywood 2.0.”

According to Burtcher, it was not his choice to end the deal.

“We regret that Warner Bros. has decided not to move forward with us,” Bircher Development president Brooke Bircher Gustafson said in a statement, adding that Bircher will move forward with its secondary partner in the deal, Manhattan Beach Studios. is planned. , an independent studio best known for producing the 2022 film “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

A major is still in play

This makes Sony the only major Hollywood studio with this plan.

Howard Hughes Corp. already has approval from the Clark County Zoning Commission to allow it to build the $1.8 billion Summerlin Production Studios at the northeast corner of Flamingo Road and Town Center Drive in Summerlin.

Its plans also hinge on the originally proposed tax credit expansion.