Prague's Barrandov Studios has also presented a bid to Warner Bros to provide sets for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Warner Bros has not announced its filming plans.
A major TV production about Queen Elizabeth I starring Helen Mirren went further afield, to even cheaper Romania, while a big-screen version of C.S. Lewis' The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe split shooting between Prague and New Zealand.
Pinewood Chief Executive Ivan Dunleavy said the situation would ``continue to impact on trading for the rest of 2005 and into 2006'' as the studio issued a profits warning this month.
The actors union Equity is also lobbying the government to maximize the fiscal incentives to bring productions here.
``It's extremely important to retain a world-class production base in the UK,'' said Equity spokesman Martin Brown. ``We are looking for Hollywood-based films to be attracted here, that serves to open production business for domestic films.''
Writer/director Charles Harris set and shot his first feature, Paradise Grove, in London with government funding but is going overseas to film his second, which will be a joint Anglo, Belgian and Dutch production.
Harris expects the majority of funding for his thriller King of the Docks to come from Belgian and Dutch state grants, with little -- if any -- from Britain. He warns that a lack of tax relief will stifle industry growth.
``I would not have got to make my first film and I would not have been able to set up my second film,'' Harris said.
And the less Britain is seen on screen, the less likely it is to attract ``set jetters.''
Visitor numbers at Alnwick Castle, the location for Hogwarts School of Magic in the Harry Potter films, more than doubled between 2001 and 2002 after the release of the first film about the boy wizard.
VisitBritain, which produces maps showing movie locations around the country, is already gearing up for a joint campaign with the French tourism authority to promote locations in The Da Vinci Code.
``It would be extremely disappointing to see more films made elsewhere,'' Frisby said. ``We shouldn't lose the opportunity to showcase what's great about Britain.''
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