Marvel Studios' Strategic Shift: The End of an Era for Georgia's Film Industry
Mia Smith
Published May 17, 2026
By Published Apr 17, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
As fans prepare for the next on-screen chapter of the , a big change behind-the-scenes marks the end of an era for the superhero film franchise. Starting with last year's Fantastic Four: First Steps, the current slate of MCU movies are now predominantly being produced abroad, rather than stateside.
After years as a staple of the Georgia film industry, of its ongoing productions to the U.K. It is a business decision with a resulting ripple effect on everything, including the MCU's creative direction. Let's unpack what you should know about the move, and why it matters.
on the economic implications of the move last year, in the wake of First Steps' theatrical run. Since then, however, the news has kind of been lost in the shuffle, especially with the excitement of Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday both hitting theaters this year. But it's worth taking a closer look at before those films arrive.
The Major MCU Shake-Up You Won't See On Screen, Explained
Marvel's Move To The U.K. & What It Means
There's a Hollywood term you may or may not have heard before: "below the line." A movie or TV show's on-screen cast, along with behind-the-scenes figures like directors, writers, and producers are all "above the line", or ATL. Everyone else is BTL, or below the line. Even the cinematographer, one of the most important crew members on any production.
So, that means your set designers, your prop and special effects people, your sound effects artists, your costume designers, lighting technicians, location scouts, script supervisors, camera operators, carpenters, gaffers, grips, and so on down the line. That is to say, the overwhelming majority of the hundreds, sometimes thousands of people who work on a movie from start to finish are below the line.
And those are the people who, by and large, won't be making the jump across the pond with Marvel Studios. Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the next Avengers films, and might not look different on screen, or feel substantially different from what came before. These movies will be different though, because a largely new below the line roster will be responsible for them.
Marvel Studios' Historic New Home: A New Era For England's Pinewood Studios
But The End Of A Golden Age For Georgia's Film Industry
To be clear, Marvel didn't move its production to just another studio in the United Kingdom. It moved to Pinewood Studios. An iconic location in film history. Pinewood is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. It was founded in 1936, and has been the location for some legendary film shoots. For example: at Pinewood in 1982, and continues to use it as a primary base of operations.
Pinewood also played a role in the early history of superhero movies. The first three were shot there. And in the mid-1980s, Pinewood was the home to an infamously contentious production. That is, . Though it's regarded as one of the GOAT film sequels now, Aliens wasn't easy to make. The oft-recounted "making of" story is that the film's crew, unhappy at English director Ridley Scott's replacement by Canadian James Cameron, gave the younger director a hard time.
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Disney leased Pinewood through 2029 back in 2019. Marvel Studios' move there in 2026 suggests Disney is investing in Pinewood beyond the end of the decade. Unless something drastic were to happen to change those plans, that means it really is the end of an era for Marvel's Atlanta, Georgia-based productions. Which is a huge economic blow to the state.
Marvel's Atlanta-Based Production Facilities Shutter After A Prosperous Decade
Trilith Studios Is In Trouble After Saying Goodbye To The MCU
The Atlanta studio that served as the primary production facilities was, in fact, actually an American expansion of the U.K.'s Pinewood Studios. The inaugural film shoot at Pinewood Atlanta, as it was initially called,. Pinewood sold the studio in 2019, at the same time that it was leasing the OG studio in England to Disney, and the Atlanta facility was renamed Trilith Studios.
The Wall Street Journal described Trilith as "largely empty" in its August 2026 report on Marvel Studios' move. "You feel like a jilted lover,' The WSJ quoted one script supervisor as saying of Marvel's departure, as part of the article's spotlight on the economic consequences of the move. The impact in Atlanta is like when any major industry uproots itself: people are out of work, and hurting because of it.
Marvel Studios' transition to Pinewood in the U.K. is cost-driven. It has become cheaper to film there. The WSJ noted that U.K. workers are paid less on average. It also pointed out one major factor that can't be ignored: in the U.K. Marvel isn't required to pay for the crew's health insurance. As such, even with Georgia and other U.S. states offering tax credits to lure film and TV productions to them, the U.K. is still the fiscally smarter alternative.
Behind The Scenes, Many MCU Crew Members Are Feeling The End Of A Era
Marvel Studios' New Beginning Wasn't An Easy Break-Up
If you look at the histories of most successful, long-running TV shows and film franchises, you'll see the same thing over and over again. That the crew and the cast, the above and below the line people, became like a family over the years. And it usually made the show better. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, How I Met Your Mother, The Fast & the Furious, you can take your pick of examples.
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, which moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles after its fifth season, replacing the majority of its below the line crew. The show changed as a result, but not necessarily for the worse. It's less a matter of quality than it is about people who worked together for five years having to find new gigs. It's show business. It happens. But think of your own job, and your coworkers, being put in that position.
The quality of the MCU isn't going to suffer because of this move. But there is something missing behind the scenes right now. And there is a huge absence in Georgia's film industry that it might not ever fully recover from. If you're just watching the on-screen product, 2026 might feel like a new beginning for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but if you're following what's going on behind-the-scenes, you'll know it's the end of an era.
Speak up, Marvel fans. How do you feel about Marvel Studios' move from Georgia to the U.K.?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount's Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
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