Next Twilight Movies to Film in Baton Rouge
07/12/2010
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10 July 2010 By GARY PERILLOUX Advocate business writer
“Twilight,” the movie series based on Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-laden novels, will film in Baton Rouge beginning this fall in the latest catch for Louisiana’s film industry.
Late Friday, California-based Summit Entertainment LLC announced its decision — long-anticipated by Internet movie blogs — to produce the final two movies of the “Twilight” series in Louisiana and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Neither the budget size, the exact Louisiana studio location nor the split — how much will be filmed in Louisiana versus Canada — has been determined yet, said Hans-Dieter Kopal, a Summit spokesman.
The film-location decision has been closely watched because the franchise’s global box-office business to date has soared to $1.4 billion. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” the third installment of the series, is showing in theaters now.
“Any production that lands in the state is good for us — we’re looking at a banner year for 2010,” said Chris Stelly, the film and television director for Louisiana’s state entertainment office. “So ‘Twilight’ coming to Louisiana affirms our position in the industry. This will certainly add to our ever-growing canon of pictures (and) keep our people employed in the industry and continue to grow our crew base.”
Kopal said the next “Twilight” movies will take a year to shoot. It’s too early to nail down a starting date beyond saying production will begin in the fall, he said, though Summit has said the first of the “Breaking Dawn” films will open at theaters on Nov. 18, 2011 — in time for the brisk holiday movie season.
Stelly said the state office hasn’t received a formal application for film tax credits on the “Twilight” project. But Louisiana’s 30 percent production tax credit significantly lowers the cost for producers to film in the state.
Summit Entertainment has been lured before to Louisiana, with “Red” wrapping up New Orleans production in April. The Helen Mirren-Bruce Willis-Morgan Freeman vehicle opens at theaters Oct. 15.
And “Twilight” is hardly Louisiana’s first blush with big-budget films. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” starred Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in 2008 and drew a Best Picture Oscar nomination after spending more than $150 million.
The Warner Bros. “Green Lantern” project, expected to complete production in New Orleans in August, should top $100 million as well, said Stelly.
But “Twilight” adds a multi-picture film franchise with a highly engaged audience and a sense of anticipation that few other movies made in Louisiana have generated.
Summit hasn’t disclosed how it will approach filming in Louisiana — whether shooting will be largely interior scenes here versus more exterior shots in Vancouver — but location filming can be a complex process with weeks of advance scouting for the best available settings.
“I just know that they’ll settle some place in Baton Rouge” as a hub, Stelly said. “(Filming) will be spread throughout the area, from what I understand. We’re certainly happy they’re coming here.” Predicting the film’s Louisiana spending would be premature, he said.
Last year, the Sony/Columbia film “Battle: Los Angeles” shot at Celtic Media Centre and on location in Baton Rouge, spending about $30 million locally in the biggest-budget movie to date for the city.
A 2009 study by Chicago-based Economic Research Associates found the state film industry generates about $6.64 in economic stimulus for each tax credit dollar granted. Film spending rose to $70 million in Baton Rouge last year out of a state volume of about a half-billion dollars.
Stelly, reached after office hours, said Louisiana in 2010 could eclipse its previous film production record, but he didn’t have immediate access to year-to-date dollar volumes.
On a project basis, the state had reached 70 film and TV productions by midyear, well on its way to surpassing the roughly 100 productions in 2009, Stelly said.
Baton Rouge also is slated to play host to “Battleship,” based on the Hasbro board game, in the fall after earlier filming starts in late August in Hawaii, according to IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.
However, no formal announcement about Baton Rouge shooting of “Battleship” has come from Universal Studios.
Just completing production in Baton Rouge is another feature film, “Flypaper,” starring Patrick Dempsey and Ashley Judd. That bank-heist comedy will be released in 2011.
