First Phase of Mansfield Sound Stages To Cost $50 Million

Another Texas sound stage facility is in the works.

Santa Clarita, California-based production company Creative Tank plans to spend $50 million on sound stages and attached offices at Super Studios USA, its planned development in the Tarrant County city of Mansfield, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Construction at 561 Easy Drive in Mansfield begins this August and should end next June, according to the filing. The buildings will cover 81,000 square feet on the 75-acre “studio-city complex.”

TDLR filings are preliminary and subject to change.

The sound stage facility itself will include two twin sound stages, “so really four sound stages,” said Creative Tank business manager Richard Judson.

In addition, the complex will include a backlot with buildings suitable as set pieces, Judson said.

The mixed-use development will also include retail and hospitality components, according to plans presented to the city of Mansfield in 2023. Previous plans floated a multifamily component, but the development will only have “condos or townhouses,” Judson said.

Mansfield isn’t the only aspiring Texas Tinseltown, thanks in part to the Texas Legislature, which boosted the state’s film incentives budget to $200 million in 2023.

In nearby Fort Worth, Tarrant County native Taylor Sheridan, creator of “Yellowstone,” is expanding a studio in AllianceTexas, Hillwood Development’s vast mixed-use complex north of the city. Several of Sheridan’s shows have shot scenes in Texas, including “Landman,” which held its red carpet premiere in Cowtown and features a cameo by Jerry Jones, and “1883,” which was filmed at Sheridan’s historic 6666 Ranch in King County.

“The Chosen,” a crowdfunded series about the life of Jesus, films scenes in Midlothian, an Ellis County town next to Mansfield.

“Shazam” star Zachary Levi is fundraising to build a studio in Bastrop, joining a similar project by California developer Alton Butler.