Expansion plans at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios in Illinois are set to benefit from a new property tax reduction being planned by the city’s Mayor. The studios were officially opened in mid-2011 and the facility is set to develop more stages in the coming years.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is filming his new feature Happy New Year on location in Dubai. Directed by Farah Khan, the movie is shooting extensively in luxury hotel complex Atlantis, The Palm on manmade island the Palm Jumeirah.
Feature film Dallas Buyers Club, whose star Matthew McConaughey is being widely tipped for an Oscar nomination, filmed on location in New Orleans, doubling the Louisiana city for Dallas, Texas. The film tells the true story of a bigoted electrician diagnosed with HIV in mid-80s Dallas.
The head of Northern Ireland Screen has predicted that regional spending from all filming productions will double over the next four years. Northern Ireland has benefitted from direct production spending of GBP121 million since 2009.
Authorities in Miami are looking to develop a new studio to boost the Florida city’s production industry and appeal to more shoots like TV drama Burn Notice. A private company would operate the studio in retrofitted premises, but the building would remain under the city’s ownership.
Louisiana is doubling for Kansas and Massachusetts in two separate productions. Charlize Theron is among the stars heading to Shreveport for new Kansas-set thriller Dark Places, while TV series Salem, based on the 17th Century witch hunts in Massachusetts, is also filming in Shreveport.
Clearwater on Florida’s west coast is preparing for location filming to start on Dolphin Tale 2. The movie will be a follow-up to the hit 2011 family drama telling the true story of an injured dolphin that was nursed back to health with a prosthetic tail.
BBC Worldwide will be boosting its UK filming spend by 10% for the next 12 months, bringing the total to GBP200 million. Drama productions on the scale of The White Queen are likely to be among the type of projects to benefit from the budget hike.