The publishing company that owns a raft of British comic book characters, including Judge Dredd, Billy Bunter and Sexton Blake, has acquired a former Oxfordshire printworks to transform into a state-of-the-art film and TV studio to bring them to the screen.

Rebellion, which is one of the UK’s biggest producers of video games, comics and books, is the publisher of long-running sci-fi weekly 2000AD. It has previously announced plans for a TV show based on futuristic lawman Judge Dredd, as well as a Rogue Trooper film to be helmed by Moon and Warcraft director Duncan Jones.

Both will now be filmed at the former Daily Mail printing facility in Didcot acquired by Rebellion bosses, brothers Jason and Chris Kingsley, located near the company’s Oxford headquarters.

According to Jason Kingsley, the 20,438 sq metre site – which cost almost £80m to build – is ideal for studio needs, with soundproofing, parking and ready-made facilities. It should create up to 500 jobs over the next few years.

“This studio purchase is incredibly exciting, not just for Rebellion but for the global film and television industry that is booming but in desperate need of further infrastructure,” said Jason.

“We know first-hand the creativity and talent here in the UK and this new studio will bring in projects from all over the world, offering opportunity and income to many people in the industry, as well as local companies and services. It also means there will be demand for more UK production and we can export more of our work globally,” he added.

The Kingsleys were heavily involved in the 2012 movie Dredd, starring Karl Urban, and last year set up Rebellion Productions. The first project they announced was Mega-City One, a TV series based on the Dredd world, alongside Rogue Trooper, a fan-favourite strip from 2000AD about a genetically engineered soldier in an endless future war.

Productions at Didcot will not be limited to the 2000AD characters. In September, Rebellion acquired the TI Media library, giving it control of a back catalogue of British comic characters dating back to the late 19th century. Rebellion’s plans include possible film and TV adaptations for characters including detective Sexton Blake and schoolboy Billy Bunter.

“I’m not sure how you would do Billy Bunter in the modern era – perhaps some things are of their time – but Sexton Blake has huge potential. He was a cross between Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, a kind of action detective,” said Jason.

Film has long been on the Kingsleys’ radar, but it’s only in the relatively recent years that the rise of high-quality TV to challenge the traditional box office blockbuster has given them the impetus. Jason said, “It used to be that TV was the poor relation to cinema, but that’s changed now, and people watch drama so many ways. Now we have the option of both to create very high quality screen content.”

He said that adding movies and TV to the Rebellion portfolio was another step on its bid to become a “Mini-Disney” multimedia organisation. In recent years, Disney has bought up multiple blockbuster intellectual properties, including Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and most recently 21st Century Fox for $71bn (£55m), which owns the film and TV studios that in turn own the X-Men franchise.

Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched in 2008 with the first Iron Man movie, superhero films have dominated the box office, and Rebellion is hoping to take on the big franchises with their ready-made stable of properties that have huge recognisability as well as massive nostalgia value.

The Kingsleys originally set up Rebellion as a video games company, and their games include the hugely popular Sniper Elite and Battlezone — all potential fodder for movie adaptations in the vein of this year’s smashes Rampage, starring Dwayne Johnson, and Tomb Raider.

Investment in the UK was important for the Kingsleys, who have injected more than £10m of their own money into the studios. The producer of the upcoming Rogue Trooper movie, Stuart Fenegan, added: “Studio availability has been scarce in recent years. Jason, Chris and the Rebellion team establishing another major UK studio is huge. I’m thrilled for them, and at the prospect of being able to shoot Rogue Trooper on home turf.”

According to Jason, the studio is pretty much open for business from Monday and the hope is that other production companies will want to hire the Rebellion facilities. He said, “Someone could come in here today and start shooting a movie. We’re proud to be investing in the UK film industry and want to share our success.”

The new venture has received government approval, as well. Margot James, Minister of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said, “I’m delighted to see one of the UK’s leading independent video game developers branching further into film and TV with this ambitious studio investment in Oxfordshire.

“This is yet another vote of confidence in our world-leading creative industries and the government is committed to stimulating creativity, broadening opportunities and securing even more growth for this booming sector.”

• This article was amended on 26 November 2018, to correct the title of Warcraft.

