New Urbanist Rebrand
Atlanta’s premier destination for creatives and film industry professionals to live and work has a new name. Formerly known as Pinewood Atlanta Studios, the 935-acre master development that includes one of the largest purpose-built studios in North America is now called Trilith Studios. “The name is strong and has a story behind it,” says Rob Parker, president of Trilith Development, of the architectural term used to describe a horizontal stone supported by two vertical ones (Stonehenge is the most famous). “The three pillars represent great storytelling supported by the latest in technology and purpose-built facilities. It feels authentic.” The new branding, developed over 18 months, was precipitated by an ownership change—from a partnership with the U.K.-based Pinewood Group to Atlanta-based River’s Rock.
The new chapter represents new opportunities for Trilith Studios and growth for the state’s film industry. The studios that began as rental facilities producing some of the world’s biggest blockbusters (such as Avengers: End Game, by Marvel) have expanded. “We’ve made major moves to maintain the core work we do, and we’ve added content development,” says Parker. “We wanted to capture content streaming, television content and live audience, pieces that weren’t in the business model of our former partners.”
The 235-acre town, now in Phase 2 of development, will welcome a host of new restaurants and retail stores in the spring, and in 2022 the community will be home to a 180-room boutique hotel. Though locales like Hollywood have neighborhoods tucked around studios, Trilith is the only centralized, studio-adjacent new urbanist town of its kind. While COVID-19 slowed some productions around the state, filming schedules are ramping up again, with Spider-Man 3 having started production in late 2020.