Arizona Governor Allows $125 Million Film Tax Credit to Become Law

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterTwo Arizona studio projects are preparing to break ground next year, now that the state has approved a $125 million incentive for film and TV production.Acacia Filmed Entertainment unveiled its plans Monday to build 14 soundstages on a 70-acre site in the Scottsdale area. The other project, Desert Studios Complex, is slated to be built in Buckeye, in the Southwest Valley.Both projects were intimately involved in designing and lobbying for the state’s new tax credit, which is targeted to incentivize construction of new soundstage facilities.“We basically helped craft this bill so we could help protect the ability to finance the studio,” said Matthew George, president of Acacia Filmed Entertainment.

The Sarajevo Film Festival has unveiled its competition line-up for this year’s festival, with Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage and Ukrainian helmer Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s documentary ‘Liturgy Of Anti-Tank Obstacles’ selected in the feature film and documentary categories respectively.

Addie Morfoot Contributor“Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down,” an inspirational story about the former Arizona congresswoman’s fight to recover from an assassination attempt in 2011 and lobby for greater gun safety laws, arrives in theaters July 15 amid a troubling surge in mass shootings across the country, underscoring the scope of her challenge. But Giffords, who struggles to speak due to injuries she incurred in that attack, remains undaunted, even in the wake of the July 4 mass shootings in Illinois and the June 23 Supreme Court decision overturning concealed-carry gun restrictions in New York.

Angelique Jackson Lee Daniels has tapped Omar Epps, Demi Singleton, Miss Lawrence and Anthony B. Jenkins to join the cast of his upcoming exorcism thriller “The Deliverance” for Netflix.The group joins previously announced stars Andra Day, Glenn Close, Mo’Nique, Aunjanue Ellis, Caleb McLaughlin and Tasha Smith in the film, which is inspired by a terrifying true story.

Omar Epps (Fatal Affair), Demi Singleton (King Richard), Miss Lawrence (Bros) and Anthony B. Jenkins (Chicago Med) have signed on for roles in Lee Daniels’ Netflix film The Deliverance, formerly titled Demon House. They join an ensemble that also includes Andra Day, Glenn Close, Mo’Nique, Aunjanue Ellis, Caleb McLaughlin and Tasha Smith, as previously announced.

Arizona this week enacted the Arizona Motion Picture Production Program, an annual film and TV tax incentive that will offer qualified productions up to $75 million a year in 2023, $100,000 in 2024, and $125,000 in 2025 and thereafter.

same day. The Jupiter’s Claim set from the movie will be accessible beginning July 22, the same day “Nope” arrives in theaters nationwide.

the $125 million tax credit intended to lure Hollywood film and TV productions to Arizona has become law in the state, having been passed by both houses of the state’s legislature.The bill was not signed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who nevertheless did not veto it.

certainly denies that she intended to suggest she would shoot her grandchildren. Likely that would have been some imaginary, extremely unlikely threat she would need to shoot.

Variety. “We’re tired of all of this creative talent driving through Arizona to get to New Mexico.” Representative Londgon did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment. The bill, which passed the Senate on a bipartisan 21-7 vote earlier this year and is expected to be officially signed into law by the House of Representatives this week, would follow in the footsteps of the Arizona Motion Picture Production and Infrastructure Credit, which provided $22.5 million across several dozen productions between 2005 and 2010.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterFor years, Arizona has watched with envy as New Mexico developed a thriving film economy thanks to a generous tax break.So now the state is getting in on the action.Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, is expected to sign a bill this week creating a refundable tax credit equal to 15-20 percent of production expenses.

breaking a decade-old July 4th holiday-weekend box office record and becoming the 11th animated film in box office history and the first since “Frozen II” to earn an opening weekend of over $100 million. The “Minions” sequel tallied $125 million over the four-day holiday weekend, cementing the idea that family audiences feel comfortable returning the theaters in large numbers after a long pandemic-fueled lull.The $400 million global run of Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” this past spring was the first sign that family films were making a comeback, but the struggles of Disney/Pixar’s “Lightyear” last month created some doubt in Hollywood over whether the video game adaptation’s success was a fluke.

The previous record for the July 4 weekend was set back in 2011 by “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” with $115.9 million. Despite a two-year delay forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minions and the “Despicable Me” franchise they came from have not faded in popularity, drawing both families and general audiences in equal parts. The film in particular got a strong turnout from teens, who Universal reports accounted for roughly a third of the weekend’s audience.

K.J. Yossman Pinewood Group, which runs Pinewood and Shepperton Studios — home to recent blockbusters including “No Time to Die,” “Black Widow” and “Cruella” — has posted a £102.9 million ($125 million) turnover for the financial year ending March 31, 2022.That’s a £6 million increase on the previous year despite the fact that for much of 2021 the COVID-19 pandemic was still having an impact via social distancing, mandatory self-isolation and lockdowns.

Halsey doubled down on supporting abortion rights Wednesday while responding to fans who left upset from her Sunday night concert in Phoenix, Arizona.  That night, Halsey criticized the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, prompting some fans to leave the show.

An Arizona woman has helped to solve her own murder.

Halsey isn’t letting anyone silence her political views.