Marvel’s superhero sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier has started filming on location in Los Angeles, with shooting also planned for Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, DC. Avengers Assemble filmed action sequences on location in Cleveland in 2011, doubling the city for New York.
A new TV spy drama is filming in Long Beach in eastern New York this weekend, doubling the location for the streets of Washington, DC. Shooting will include special effects, stunt work and vehicle collisions.
Iron Man 3 has wrapped its North Carolina shoot and the state’s EUE/Screen Gems Studios is now better equipped as a result of the USD200 million project. Securing the Marvel film has been a major regional boost, delivering around USD90 million locally.
Tax experts in the US have criticised the value of filming incentives and say that state authorities are increasingly disillusioned. They argue that local economic benefits are short-term and that US communities are tired of being used as doubles for elsewhere in the country.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier will film partly on location in Ohio. Marvel previously recreated the streets of New York City in Cleveland for The Avengers. Ohio’s state filming incentive now has a richer film fund, making it more attractive for big-budget productions.
A conservative organisation in North Carolina has criticised the state’s location filming incentive programme. Governor Bev Perdue has officially extended the incentive as Iron Man 3 films in the state, but the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh has condemned it as “corporate welfare”.
Ohio’s location filming incentive now has a richer film fund, boosting its Hollywood appeal. The state now has USD40 million through the 2013 fiscal year to help attract more shoots like Marvel's Avengers, although spending is limited to USD20 million each year.
New Mexico paid nearly USD23 million in tax credits to Marvel’s Avengers feature when it filmed on location in the state, but got a return of around USD90 million in production spending. The film has been a stunning success, making a billion dollars worldwide in just a few weeks.