It’s no secret that Las Vegas loves entertainment. Vegas is entertainment. From the Rat Pack residencies of the 1950s to the neon-lit megaresorts of today, the city has long been a magnet for spectacle. For most of Sin City’s history, gambling was the sole focus of Vegas. It was not until 2017, with the inception of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, that Las Vegas opened its arms to other forms of entertainment, namely sports. In the eight years since, Las Vegas has gained three other major league teams (WNBA Aces, NFL Raiders, and upcoming MLB Athletics), a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and three sporting titles. According to UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research, the profits from all sporting events (professional and amateur) totaled around $1.85 billion during the 2022 fiscal year. In the music industry, global artists such as Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, and BLACKPINK, to name a few, have all had sold-out shows—with ticket prices of upwards of $1,000—in state-of-the-art venues like Allegiant Stadium and the Dolby Live Theater. Music now flocks to Vegas. With major investments injected into and significant profits worth billions of dollars flowing from the lifeblood of Las Vegas, it’s no surprise that other sectors of the entertainment industry would be intrigued. The film industry is the next to come knocking. While not entirely new to the city—CinemaCon, the largest annual gathering of film industry professionals, has been held at Caesars Palace since 2011—recent initiatives signal a deeper investment in establishing Las Vegas as a filmmaking hub. Las Vegas’s push to brand itself as “Hollywood 2.0” reflects its broader transition into a global entertainment capital; however, this rebranding effort may be premature as it raises critical questions about long-term viability, economic impact, and the potential cost to existing industries.
In the last year alone, multiple film studios have announced an interest in development in Vegas. One major project, Summerlin Studios—backed by Sony Pictures, Mark Wahlberg, and the CEO of Howard Hughes Holdings—has promised a $1.8 billion investment and potentially 10,000 new jobs to the Vegas Valley. To support this initiative, Nevada lawmakers have introduced Nevada Assembly Bill 238 (AB238), also known as the Nevada Studios Infrastructure and Workforce Training Act, which proposes an increase in Nevada’s tax break for movie studios from $10 million to $120 million per year ($95 million of which would be reserved for Summerlin Studios) for future film studios that would break ground in Las Vegas. The motivation behind these incentives is clear: Nevada aims to diversify its economy beyond gambling and hospitality. The lawmakers that drafted AB238 have stated that it is an investment in a new industry that will bring thousands of new jobs, new revenue to the state, and attract new waves of visitors to Las Vegas. On May 30, 2025, AB238 found itself on the Nevada Assembly’s floor, where it narrowly passed 22-20 to go to the Senate floor. Opponents of AB238 state that the return on investment is low, with the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development reporting that Summerlin Studios would stimulate the state economy but not enough to offset the massive expansion of the film tax credit program.
In parallel, Warner Bros. Studios Nevada, a 34-acre venture from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas (UNLV) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), was announced a few months after Summerlin Studios. The deal projected a staggering $8.5 billion in long-term investment and aimed to position Las Vegas as a competitive alternative to traditional production hubs like Los Angeles and Atlanta. The studio would have featured sound stages, post-production facilities, and backlots, along with integrated academic spaces for film, media, and technology students. However, the partnership collapsed in early 2025 due to financial disagreements, reportedly related to revenue-sharing models and infrastructure costs, prompting WBD to withdraw from the venture and financially back Summerlin Studios. Despite the setback, UNLV has decided that it would continue the project under the name Nevada Studios, reaffirming its commitment to developing a homegrown film industry. Despite this, questions remain about long-term funding, demand, and sustainability. WBD’s decision to pull out of the project may also signal a broader skepticism within the industry about Las Vegas’s potential to sustain a competitive and profitable film hub. Without a major studio partner like WBD, the project’s ability to attract large-scale productions or compete with established markets may be limited.
While the development of these studios marks a significant milestone for Nevada’s film ambitions, their true impact can only be understood by examining their potential effects on tourism and the broader economy. It’s easy to see the billions of dollars in investment and thousands of possible jobs created and say that Summerlin and Nevada Studios should be built as soon as possible. Despite this, it’s important to recognize how they might affect tourism within Las Vegas. With the introduction and success of the aforementioned sports teams, it seems logical to conclude that they would bring in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of more tourists to Las Vegas. In reality, from 2014 until the present (disregarding 2020), Vegas has had a steady tourist volume hovering around 41 to 42 million people per year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The addition of sports teams did not affect the number of incoming visitors. With the addition of two new movie studios and accompanying studio tours, it is likely that the number of tourists will not change significantly and will also introduce competition for tourists’ money, which will only decrease the revenues of other, already struggling Las Vegas attractions. Furthermore, foreign tourists are less interested in visiting the United States in today’s society due to global relations, with the US losing a potential $8.5 billion as a result, according to Oxford Economics. Las Vegas is already feeling these effects: MGM Resorts laid off its concierge staff in April 2025 due to diminished demand. It cannot go without stating how the future Nevada film industry may be susceptible to the same changes.
Though it is exciting to see Las Vegas choose to develop its film industry, I can’t help but be worried that it might be jumping into the deep end prematurely and hurting its other entertainment sectors. No one wants to see Summerlin and Nevada Studios fail, but it is a very real possibility. The film world is a volatile one, and having two separate multi-billion dollar movie studios in development at the same time makes Vegas very vulnerable to economic instability if it’s caught during a time of global economic downturn.
Comments are closed.