Raleigh Studios is set to open nine sound stages totaling 180,907 square feet on the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary, this spring to take advantage of the country's low-cost labor and film tax credits.

The Hollywood-based company, the largest independent studio operator in the U.S., runs studios in Hollywood, Manhattan Beach and Louisiana, and now is expanding in a big way into Eastern Europe.

Raleigh, owned by commercial developers George and Mark Rosenthal, is developing the $70-million project with a consortium of Hungarian investors called the Origo Film Group. The complex would be the most ambitious project to date for Raleigh, which already owns or manages nearly 40 stages.

Raleigh still maintains significant operations in Los Angeles. Nonetheless, the Hungary project underscores how Southern California remains vulnerable to the continued exodus of movies and TV shows to other states and countries that offer generous incentives to lure production. Raleigh is also building a production studio in Pontiac, Mich., and operates four sound stages in Baton Rouge, La.

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