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Baja Studios, formerly Fox Baja, is an American-owned film studio near the resort community of Rosarito,
Fox Baja Studios began life as a subsidiary of
The studio is built alongside the ocean coastline, enabling an unobstructed view of the sea. It comprises of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with of coastline frontage. The facility has 5 stages, 4 indoor and outdoor water tanks, street sets, and is a self-contained facility, with offices, scenery shops, wardrobe and dressing rooms. Two of the stages and three of the tanks are combined. There are four tanks with a combined volume of over 20 million gallons fed by a filtration seawater plant capable of delivering 9,000 gallons of water per minute.
Tank 1 is an infinite horizon pond which adjoins and overlooks the Pacific. Built to film ''Titanic'', it is a concrete pool with a full capacity of 17 million gallons, used for exterior shooting, wet or dry, and consists of three depth levels from . The tank can be emptied or filled in 40 hours. Alongside it is a motor-driven tower crane, used for constructing film sets and as a lighting and camera platform. Fox employed mostly American technical personnel for the tank's construction, despite available Mexican resources. On completion of filming, the tank was drained of chlorinated water too quickly without management in one batch, ruining the fishing waters at Popotla.
There is a smaller outdoor tank and another two built into an indoor stage.
;Studio tour
Fox created a Studio Tour named Foxploration, which opened in May 2001 consisting largely of ''Titanic'' exhibits, Fox-derived displays, and items from other films, notably ''Master and Commander''. This tour closed.
*''
Baja California
Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
, Mexico. It comprises the world's largest stages and water tanks designed for filming. As well as major film work the facility is used for making commercials, music videos, television series, and movies for television.
Originally built for 20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
for the reconstruction of RMS ''Titanic'' in the 1997 film ''Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
'', it has since then built some of the largest sets for numerous other studios including, MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
s ''Tomorrow Never Dies
''Tomorrow Never Dies'' is a 1997 spy film, the eighteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a screenplay ...
'', Amblin Entertainment
Amblin' Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1980. Its headquarters are lo ...
s '' In Dreams'', Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
s '' Deep Blue Sea'', Phoenix Picturess '' The Weight of Water'', Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
s ''Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...
'' and Fox's '' Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World''.
History
Fox Baja Studios began life as a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
, a part of the global corporate holdings of Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
on land leased by the Hollywood studio. Construction of the facility costing an estimated $20 million USD began on 6 June 1996 next to the northern edge of a small fishing village (Puerto Popotla). Construction lasted 100 days. The corporation had an interest in breaking the power in Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
of the Teamsters Union; the corporation had learned from the Wapping dispute
The Wapping dispute was a lengthy failed strike by print workers in London in 1986.
Print unions tried to block distribution of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production wa ...
. The studio's design was heavily influenced by the production needs of the first film to be shot there, James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...
's epic ''Titanic'', where there was a requirement to shoot a replica of the ship in a water tank.
Fox sold the studios in May 2007 to Baja Acquisitions (a consortium of "local financial interests") for an eight-figure US dollar sum.
There was a downturn in the area from 2007 when tourism lessened due to a local drug war and a tightening of travel restrictions. Popotla had become attractive to smugglers of illegal immigrants at night once the restaurant trade had closed for the day.
In 2018 a resurgence in filmmaking for Internet streaming by Amazon, HBO, and Netflix lifted prospects for the studio.
Facilities
The studio is built alongside the ocean coastline, enabling an unobstructed view of the sea. It comprises of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with of coastline frontage. The facility has 5 stages, 4 indoor and outdoor water tanks, street sets, and is a self-contained facility, with offices, scenery shops, wardrobe and dressing rooms. Two of the stages and three of the tanks are combined. There are four tanks with a combined volume of over 20 million gallons fed by a filtration seawater plant capable of delivering 9,000 gallons of water per minute.
Tank 1 is an infinite horizon pond which adjoins and overlooks the Pacific. Built to film ''Titanic'', it is a concrete pool with a full capacity of 17 million gallons, used for exterior shooting, wet or dry, and consists of three depth levels from . The tank can be emptied or filled in 40 hours. Alongside it is a motor-driven tower crane, used for constructing film sets and as a lighting and camera platform. Fox employed mostly American technical personnel for the tank's construction, despite available Mexican resources. On completion of filming, the tank was drained of chlorinated water too quickly without management in one batch, ruining the fishing waters at Popotla.
There is a smaller outdoor tank and another two built into an indoor stage.
;Studio tour
Fox created a Studio Tour named Foxploration, which opened in May 2001 consisting largely of ''Titanic'' exhibits, Fox-derived displays, and items from other films, notably ''Master and Commander''. This tour closed.
Films
*''Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
'' (1997)
*''Tomorrow Never Dies
''Tomorrow Never Dies'' is a 1997 spy film, the eighteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a screenplay ...
'' (1997) (Second Unit)
*'' Deep Blue Sea'' (1999)
*'' In Dreams'' (1999)
*'' The Weight of Water'' (2000)
*''Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...
'' (2001)
*'' Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'' (2003)
*'' Kung Pow! Enter the Fist'' (2002)
*''Ghosts of the Abyss
''Ghosts of the Abyss'' (also known as ''Titanic 3D: Ghosts of the Abyss'') is a 2003 American Documentary film, documentary film produced by Walden Media. It was directed by James Cameron after his 1997 film ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic''. Du ...
'' (2003)
*'' Jumper'' (2008)
*'' All Is Lost'' (2013)
*'' Against the Sun'' (2014)
*''Little Boy
Little Boy was a type of atomic bomb created by the Manhattan Project during World War II. The name is also often used to describe the specific bomb (L-11) used in the bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress ...
'' (2015)
*'' Chappaquiddick'' (2018)
Television
*'' Tremors'' (2003) *''Fear the Walking Dead
''Fear the Walking Dead'' is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson for AMC. It is a spin-off to '' The Walking Dead'', which is based on the comic book series of the same na ...
'' (2016) – Season 2
*''9-1-1
911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...
'' (2019) – Season 3
*'' Selena: The Series'' (2020–2021) – Part 1 and Part 2
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baja Studios 1996 establishments in Mexico American companies established in 1996 Companies based in Baja California Mass media companies established in 1996 Mexican film studios