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The Babelsberg Studios, located in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. Founded in 1911, it covers an area of about 270,000 square feet. Hundreds of films, including Fritz Lang's Metropolis and The Blue Angel were filmed there.

Today, Studio Babelsberg iremains operational for film and television productions. It now includes 'Filmpark Babelsberg, a theme park with stunt-shows and attractions based on movies.

Contents 1 History 2 Famous films shot at Babelsberg Studios 3 Filmpark Babelsberg 4 Literature 5 External links

In 1911, the company Bioscop built its first – glass – film studio in Babelsberg. The first shoot began as early as February 1912 . After the First World War, the Deutsche Bioscop Gesellschaft merged with the German branch of the French film concern Eclair „Decla“ in Babelsberg into „Decla Bioscop“. In 1921, Decla Bioscop passed into Universum Film AG (Ufa) which had been founded in 1917. This company erected the large studio (which is now known as the Marlene Dietrich Halle) in 1926 for the big film production of Metropolis by Fritz Lang. A new chapter in the history of cinema began with the construction of the first German sound stage in Babelsberg in 1929, the Tonkreuz. Melodie des Herzens with Willy Fritsch is the first German full sound film.

This is followed in 1930 with the premiere of The Blue Angel by Josef von Sternberg with Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings in the lead roles. From 1933 to 1945, around 1,000 feature films are made in the studios and on the studio lot. Babelsberg reinvents itslf after the end of the Second World War, starting with Wolfgang Staudte's "Die Mörder sind unter uns" with Hildegard Knef and Ernst Wilhelm Borchert, which started filming on May 4, 1946.

About two weeks later, on May 17, 1946, the DEFA - Deutsche Film AG - was established. It produced over 700 feature films, including 150 children's films. In addition, over 600 films are produced for television from 1959 to 1990. The DEFA period was honored by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York in 2005.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Treuhand took over the responsibility for the privatisation of the former DEFA. In August 1992, the Treuhandanstalt sold the former DEFA film studios in Babelsberg to the French Compagnie Générale des Eaux concern (later absorbed into Vivendi Universal). Over the following 12 years, the company invested approx. Euros 500 million updating the studios' infrastructure.

In July 2004, Vivendi sold Studio Babelsberg to the investment company FBB (Filmbetriebe Berlin Brandenburg GmbH) which has Dr. Carl Woebcken and Christoph Fisser as shareholders.

• Metropolis (1927)
• Der Blaue Engel (1930)
• La Habanera (1936)
• Der kleine Muck (1966) from the stories of 1001 Nights
• Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
• V for Vendetta (2005)
• Flightplan (2005)
• Mission Impossible 3 (2006)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Filmpark Babelsberg is a theme-park about movies located on the Babelsberg campus. It is divided into six different themes and 20 attractions. Popular attractions are the 4D Metropolis-cinema, a U-Boot-Ride, sceneries from different movies, an animalshow and a stuntshow. Filmpark opened in 1991 after the German reunification.

• Hans-Jürgen Tast (ed.) ANTON WEBER (1904-1979) - Filmarchitekt bei der UFA (Schellerten 2005) ISBN 3-88842-030-X;

• Official Webpage
• The Filmpark official Webpage
• Berlin Studio Plays Host To Hollywood

Coordinates: 52°23′13″N, 13°07′10″E