Michigan Paid $35 Million for ‘Dawn of Justice’
By Skip Harvey
When Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was scouting locations for shooting, the beleaguered city of Detroit stepped up. Desperate for an economic boost, the Michigan Film office ponied up $35 million of their $43.2 million allotted budget–leaving only about 8 million for the other 8 projects being shot there this year.
From The Michigan Film Office:
"“Detroit is a great example of a quintessential American city, and I know it will make the perfect backdrop for our movie,” stated filmmaker Zack Snyder. “Detroit and the entire state of Michigan have been fantastic collaborators, and we are looking forward to working together on this film.” The production is expected to hire 406 Michigan workers, with a full time equivalent of 426 jobs, plus an additional 6,000 man/days of extra work. The production anticipates using approximately 500 local Michigan vendors during the course of production and spending $5.1 million on local hotels, as well as an additional $3.5 million in out-of-town cast and crew per diem payments that will be spent in the local economy but which fall outside of the incentive program."
Dawn of Justice has already begun filming, so Detroit should be feeling the ‘Batman Bump’ by now. With $100 million coming their way, I can’t say I’m surprised they put up so much. I’m curious as to where that will lead for the city and how much Detroit can look like Metropolis AND Gotham.