Great Point Studios opens ‘flagship’ studio in Buffalo

Judging by the cast of the first film that will be shot at the full-service production facility, this space will be well-used.

Malcolm McDowell and Cary Elwes are among the confirmed stars of “The Panic,” a feature film announced as the studio’s first project at a May 16 news conference celebrating the opening of the $50 million Niagara Street facility .

And that’s for the opening, as Great Point CEO Robert Halmi Jr. has promised that more announcements are coming soon regarding “a pretty nice movie lineup.”

“We are confident it will be a success. It will be a filmmaker’s paradise with a studio stocked for it,” Halmi told an audience that included Buffalo dignitaries and celebrities like legendary television writer Tom Fontana and the actor Patrick Gallo (“The Irishman”) and award-winning actor Stephen McKinley Henderson, professor emeritus at the University at Buffalo.

Buffalo is one of the strategically chosen locations for Great Point Studios, joining Yonkers, Atlanta and Cardiff, Wales. Coming soon are studios in Newark, New Jersey, London and Los Angeles.

Even with studios in these major cities, Halmi said “Buffalo is our flagship.”

“There is no other studio that we run that looks better, that works better than this studio.”

“At Great Point, we are not the biggest and we are not trying to be the biggest,” Halmi added. “We’re trying to use our expertise to create a better studio environment. We have the best equipment here (Buffalo) in terms of technology. Everything a filmmaker wants will be here.”

Great Point Studios Buffalo has three soundstages: one 20,000 square foot stage and two 5,000 square feet each. Also within the two-story facility is an 11,000 square foot factory area for set construction and rooms for hair and makeup, costume, props, editing and offices.

That makes a total of eight soundstages in Buffalo, including four at the Buffalo FilmWorks on Babcock Street and one at the downtown Buffalo Toronto Public Media headquarters.

“We’re going to dirty the floor and make some movies here,” Halmi said.

It begins June 3 with the start of filming on “The Panic,” a real-life drama from writer-director Daniel Adams about bankers JP Morgan and Charles Barney as they face a financial crisis in 1907 New York.

In addition to McDowell (currently starring in the TV series “Son of a Critch”) and Elwes (“The Princess Bride”), the film also stars Justin Chatwin and Cristiana Dell’Anna, who was in Buffalo in 2021 for the shooting of the recently released film. “Cabrini.” “The Panic” is produced by Michael Mailer who was here in March to direct his film “Cutman,” starring Cheektowaga native William Fichtner as a former professional boxer.

Mailer said “The Panic” would be made entirely in Buffalo during a four-week shoot that would include sets built at Great Point as well as location filming.

“I love the city,” Mailer said. “I’m so happy to come back and do another movie and I’ll come back again.”