DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — It made headlines early in 2021 when it was announced the DeKalb County-based movie studio would expand its footprint in the coming years to offer “largest sound stage space in the English speaking world.” Now, Blackhall Studios has a new owner.
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Blackhall Studios founder Ryan Millsap announced Wednesday morning he’s sold the studio to a California based private equity firm. According to Millsap, the Commonwealth Group will purchase the studios for $120 million.
“The building of the studios was a real estate development for me, just like building and selling apartment complexes. My team and I built sound stages to lease to film companies. I learned a huge amount about the film business in my days watching Disney, Warner Brothers and Universal Studios execute their craft,” Millsap said. He added, “I see some incredible opportunities ahead for Georgia capital to take advantage of trends that legacy Hollywood capital is overlooking. Blackhall Studios has been a very good real estate development project, and Blackhall Entertainment, my next venture, will help transform Georgia into an entertainment juggernaut. Onward and upward, Georgia!”
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Millsap says he will still retain the rights to the Blackhall name for use on businesses other than the physical film real estate buildings.
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Channel 2 Action News has reported on the studio’s recent plans for expansion. Millsap says he’s also purchased land in England and Los Angeles to expand Blackhall’s footprint in those areas.
The studio opened in 2017 and occupies roughly 165 acres in Southwest DeKalb County with some 850,000 square feet of space scattered among nine sound stages.
Blackhall has hosted large scale movie productions such as Jumanji, Godzilla and Venom and teamed up with many of Hollywood’s biggest studios.
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