Pinewood Studios was built on the estate of
Heatherden Hall, a large Victorian country house which was purchased by Canadian financier and
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Brentford and Chiswick Lt. Col.
Grant Morden (1880–1932). He added refinements such as a ballroom, a
Victorian-style Turkish bath, and an indoor squash court. Due to its seclusion, it was used as a discreet meeting place for high-ranking politicians and diplomats: the agreement to create the
Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed there. In 1934, building tycoon
Charles Boot (1874–1945) bought the land and turned it into a
country club. The ballroom was converted into a restaurant and many of the bedrooms became furnished suites.
1930s In 1935, millionaire flour magnate
J. Arthur Rank (1888–1972) went into partnership with Boot and they transformed the estate into a film studio. Boot based designs for the studio complex on the latest ideas being employed by film studios in
Hollywood, California. Boot named the new studio Pinewood because "of the number of trees which grow there and because it seemed to suggest something of the American film centre in its second syllable". Construction began in December of that year, with a new stage completed every three weeks. The studios were finished nine months later, having cost £1 million (approx. £ at prices). Five stages were initially completed and there was provision for an enclosed water tank capable of holding , which is still in use. In the years that followed, he also undertook further work on both the Pinewood Film Studios and the
Denham Film Studios, both of which had by then become a part of the newly-formed
Rank Organisation. On 30 September 1936, the studio complex was officially opened by Dr
Leslie Burgin,
Parliamentary Secretary to the
Board of Trade. The first film director to use the facilities was
Herbert Wilcox, completing
London Melody (1937) featuring
Anna Neagle (his wife), portions of which had already been filmed at
British and Dominions Imperial Studios in Elstree, before a fire there halted production. The first film to be made entirely at Pinewood was
Talk of the Devil (1936), directed by
Carol Reed. There followed a prolific period of Pinewood and British film history, with Pinewood following the studios adopting the "unit system", an American industry practice. That enabled several pictures to be filmed simultaneously and, ultimately, Pinewood achieved the highest output of any studio in the world.
1940s During the
Second World War, Pinewood was requisitioned, and the
Crown Film Unit, No. 5
Army Film and Photographic Unit,
Royal Air Force Film Production Unit, and Polish Air Force Film Unit were based there. The Crown Film Unit completed many classic wartime documentaries, and
Roy Boulting's
Desert Victory,
Humphrey Jennings'
Fires Were Started,
Coastal Command and
Pat Jackson's
Western Approaches (all 1943) were filmed there during that period. As well as its use by the armed forces, the
Royal Mint and
Lloyd's of London were installed on sound stages at Pinewood, and were open for business for the duration of the war.
The Company of Youth, the Rank Organisation acting school, which launched several film careers, was founded in 1945. The next year, Pinewood re-opened for (non-war-related) business. Two significant films produced at Pinewood were released within two months of each other in 1948:
Oliver Twist, directed by
David Lean, and
Powell and Pressburger's
The Red Shoes. Due to a shortfall in funds, brought about by financial overspends the previous year, Rank did not have enough money to market
The Red Shoes sufficiently at first in the US, but it became Rank's biggest earner up to that point, grossing over £1 million by 1951 (the equivalent of £ in terms). In the same year,
John Davis was appointed managing director. By the following year,
Rank had run up an overdraft of £16 million (the equivalent of £ in ), and announced a loss of £3.5 million, mainly due to big budget flops. One of the largest of these had been
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), which was originally budgeted at £250,000, but which eventually cost £1,278,000 (the equivalent of £ in ).
1960s During the 1960s, Pinewood was no longer solely dependent on the Rank Organisation to fill its stages. "Renters" (producers hiring the sound stages for a film-by-film agreement) were using half of the stages as Pinewood turned into a
four walls facility. The
James Bond franchise began at Pinewood with
Terence Young directing
Dr. No (1962), and has continued to be based at the studios since then. J. Arthur Rank (by then Lord Rank) retired as chairman in 1962 and was succeeded by John Davis, who had begun to move the Rank Organisation away from mass film production and towards more profitable and less risky businesses such as bingo and holidays.
1970s During the 1970s, Pinewood studios were being used more for television programmes, including
ITC Entertainment's
UFO (1970),
The Persuaders! (1971), starring
Tony Curtis and
Roger Moore, and
Space: 1999 (1975–1977). Major films shot at Pinewood included
Fiddler on the Roof (1971),
Sleuth (1972),
The Day of the Jackal (1973),
Superman (1978) and
Superman II (1980),
Alien (1979) and
Bugsy Malone (1976), and the James Bond films
Diamonds Are Forever (1971),
Live and Let Die (1973),
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
1980s Four
James Bond movies,
For Your Eyes Only (1981),
Octopussy (1983),
A View to a Kill (1985), and
The Living Daylights (1987), among several other large productions, such as
Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982),
Superman III (1983),
Krull (1983),
Legend (1985),
Aliens (1986),
Stanley Kubrick's
Full Metal Jacket (1987),
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) and
Tim Burton's
Batman (1989), were all produced at Pinewood.
1990s The 1990s saw large-scale productions, such as
Alien 3 (1992),
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and
The World Is Not Enough (1999) produced at the studios which kept Pinewood operating.
2000s The Rank Group owned the studio until 2001, when it sold Pinewood for £62 million to a group led by
Michael Grade and Ivan Dunleavy and financed by private equity group
3i, who held an 80% stake. The purchase of
Shepperton Studios from a consortium headed by
Ridley and
Tony Scott, gave rise to the
Pinewood Group, eventually comprising Pinewood Studios, Shepperton Studios,
Teddington Studios,
Pinewood Toronto Studios,
Pinewood Indomina Studios, Pinewood Studio Berlin,
Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios, and a joint venture in the US with
Pinewood Atlanta Studios. In 2009, Pinewood and Shepperton received a
BAFTA Award for their Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.
2010s The Pinewood Studios Group was subject to a hostile takeover approach in 2011. Manchester-based
The Peel Group acquired a 73% stake, but
Warren James Jewellers retained a 27% stake, so preventing a full takeover. In 2012
Financial Services Authority considered cancelling the stock market listing because nearly all the shares are held by two groups. In June 2016, five new stages and 10 new workshops were opened at Pinewood.
2020s In 2025,
Marvel Studios moved their main production servers and offices to Pinewood Studios, starting predominantly with the productions of
Phase Six films
The Fantastic Four: First Steps,
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, co-produced with
Sony, and
Avengers: Doomsday and
Avengers: Secret Wars, as well as the show
VisionQuest. == Stages, studios and locations ==