Saturday, April 23, 2011
By Karl Henkel
First it was “Unstoppable,” and now the movie-production business in the region seems just that.
After attracting 20th Century Fox to Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania to shoot the action thriller “Unstoppable,” it later attracted “The Avengers” and the third Batman installment, “The Dark Knight Rises,” which are both set to shoot this summer. Now, the area has secured another major motion-picture production.
Originally slated to be called “Fun Size,” the now-untitled film will be shot in Cleveland and other areas of Ohio. It will feature Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice. Josh Schwartz, creator of “The O.C.” on FOX, will direct.
The plot is about a sarcastic teenage girl who takes her little brother trick-or-treating on Halloween, loses him and needs to get him back.
The Ohio Film Office and Greater Cleveland Film Commission announced Friday that Paramount Pictures Corp. will receive an Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit estimated at $4.7 million for the film, which is expected to employ 545 Ohioans as production crew and extras.
Filming should begin in late spring, and it is scheduled to be released in October 2012.
There are 23 projects in the works with OFO, and the Ohio Department of Development said they will pump about $100 million into the economy.
To be eligible for the tax credit, a production company must show reviewable progress to the OFO within 90 days of receiving a notification letter and will receive the tax credit only upon completion of production.
There is $2.8 million in tax credits still available this year.