British film industry under threat

A major British studio could lose a £64million movie because it is too expensive to make films in this country, it was revealed last night.

Pinewood Shepperton confirmed entertainment giant Paramount might stop production of a superhero epic, Watchmen, at its Pinewood studio. The loss would cost the company about £2.2million.

Watchmen producer Lloyd Levin said the issue was 'the expense of shooting in Britain with the exchange rate and the loss of certain rebates'.

He added: 'The feeling is there might be a less expensive way to do it outside the UK.' Pinewood warned last month that filmmakers were delaying starting productions until it was known if the Government would continue to offer tax relief.

Revenues from Watchmen, based on Alan Moore's cult comic book, were expected to begin flowing into the studios' coffers in May. Pinewood said: 'The company is unlikely to be able to recover all the shortfall.'