Marvel wants to film in Hollywood

[JackFetch]

In her Deadline Hollywood column, Nikke Finke reports on Jon Favreau's efforts to help California Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger push tax breaks for Hollywood studios who wish to film movies there.

Recent times have seen more and more productions flee the state in favor of incentives offered by other states and other countries. In what's now become a highly-competitive market for film locations it's becoming lest cost-effective for studios to film in town.

Indeed 'Iron Man' filmed primarily in Vancouver, Canada, and 'Incredible Hulk' did most of its filming in Toronto.

You'd think California residents are all in favore of keeping the biz in the town. Indeed, Finke recently reported on 'Ugly Betty' crew and staffers who suddenly found themsleves jobless when the TV show moved to tax-friendly New York. But the state's largely liberal population also sees a problem with extendeing tax breaks to giant media corporations who reel in millions of dollars of revenue every month.

Finke says this push by Favreau and Schwarzenegger may succeed largely because of Marvel's involvement in the lobbying effort with regards to their planned slate of films.

"They're willing to make a commitment to keep all four productions ['Iron Man 2', 'Thor', 'First Avenger: Captain America' and 'The Avengers'] here in town. They're looking for existing studio space right now," Favreau told Finke.

Marvel's business alone would mean about $600 million in film budget over the next few years, once again proving it's Marvel's world. We just live in it.

http://www.comics2film.com/index.php?a=story&b=35377

California needs to do this. It won't be long before an established studio leaves to Canada for good, and then the rest will be right behind them.

[Dread]

IM was in Vancouver? Wow. They hid that well!