In a film studio industry where size matters, North Carolina is to pump $15 million into building a 37,500-square-foot soundstage, adding a challenge to Filmport’s 45,900-square-foot cavern.

The EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, NC, already the largest North American studio complex outside of Los Angeles, will open its 10th soundstage this spring as a column-free space that is 37,500 square feet, with a 45-foot ceiling.

In the tale of the tape, Filmport’s newly completed megastage is 255 feet by 180 feet and 60 feet in height, and reputed to be North America’s largest. Mindful of that, EUE/Screen Gems Studios has billed its proposed jumbo soundstage as the largest in the U.S. market.

At the same time, the proposed Dream Stage 10 will be added to EUE/Screen Gems Studios’ existing nine soundstages, and will feature a 60 x 60-foot special effects water tank.

EUE/Screen Gems’ recent credits include the Richard Gere/Diane Lane romance Nights in Rodanthe and The Secret Lives of Bees.

News of the proposed Tar Hills megastage follows Michigan’s unveiling this month of plans for a $53-million, 600,000-square-foot studio to launch later this year, on Toronto’s doorstep.

EUE/Screen Gems executives, led by co-principal Chris Cooney, last week made the rounds of Hollywood studios to steer movie and TV projects to North Carolina that are expected to materialize after the current SAG/studio standoff ends.

Canadian studio operators and politicians have traveled to Los Angeles in recent weeks to make similar pitches to the major studios.

North Carolina offers a 15% tax credit to visiting location shoots. As a marketing ploy, EUE/Screen Gems Studios created a webcam to enable studio execs to monitor progress on the construction of Dream Stage 10 from their desks in L.A.