After officially being announced at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Thailand’s cash rebate incentive is now accessible to the public. Feature films and television shows shooting in Thailand from January 2017 onwards can now receive a 20% cash rebate on qualifying expenditures.
New action movie Hitman: Agent 47 used Berlin as its production base and also became the first major Hollywood film to shoot in Singapore, in South-East Asia. The movie is an adaptation of a popular videogame franchise and a sequel of sorts to the 2007 film Hitman.
Speakers at the Produced By Conference in Los Angeles were encouraged but cautious over the weekend about California’s boosted filming incentives. The Weinstein Company (TWC) was among the firms noting the importance of a large and secure incentive support structure.
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese and star Andrew Garfield are approaching the end of their Taiwan shoot for period drama Silence. The long-gestating movie tells the story of two 17th century priests on the search for their mentor in a Japan plagued by religious persecution.
Italy’s international production profile has been given a lift since its filming incentives were boosted last year. Major projects currently shooting include a big-budget remake of historical epic Ben-Hur, which is the first international movie in years to shoot entirely in Italy.
New Pictures filmed the lavish period TV series Indian Summers on location in Penang, Malaysia, doubling the region for northern India. Set in 1932, the Channel 4 series tells a story of social drama during the dying days of the British Empire’s colonial rule.
Filmmaker Michael Mann shot his cybercrime movie Blackhat in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Los Angeles. Chris Hemsworth stars as a computer expert recruited to hunt an international gang of cyber criminals.
Pinewood Studios has been granted approval by a local authority for the first phase of its major new development plan. Initial work on the Pinewood Studios Development Framework will start in early 2015.